Final Launch of Japan's H2a Rocket Successful; Rocket Finished Career with 98% Success Rate
The rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 1:33 a.m. The successful launch marked a triumphant finish for the rocket, which has supported Japan's space development for more than two decades.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., which took charge of the launch, said the rocket successfully launched 44 consecutive times and marked a success rate of 98% since its first launch in 2001. Of the 50 launches, the sixth was the only one that failed in 2003. The success rate proves the rocket's high technical prowess and reliability.
The H2A has carried several important satellites that support social infrastructure. Those include the geostationary meteorological satellite Himawari and the quasi-zenith satellite Michibiki, which is used to enhance positioning accuracy.
It has also carried explorers that made significant scientific achievements, such as Hayabusa2, which brought back samples collected from the surface of asteroid Ryugu, and the SLIM lander, which successfully touched down on the moon's surface and made Japan the fifth country to land a craft on the moon.
The latest rocket carried the government's GOSAT-GW satellite, whose mission includes measuring greenhouse gas levels and the water cycle. Nicknamed Ibuki GW, the satellite can measure the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the entire surface of the Earth. It is expected to contribute to countermeasures against global warming.
The model will be replaced as the country's mainstay space vehicle by the new H3 rocket, which was jointly developed by the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Due to its high launch cost, which is said to be around ¥10 billion, the H2A rocket struggled to receive orders for commercial launches of overseas satellites. The new H3 rocket aims to offer a lower launch service price — half that of the H2A — to cash in on an increasing global demand for satellite launches.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
24-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
JAXA Reports No Problems in H3 Engine Firing Test; Latest Rocket, Unlike Others, Has No Boosters
An engine firing test for the new mainstay H3 rocket was conducted without any major problems at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Thursday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. The test involved a new type of H3 without rocket boosters and is part of a process that aims to reduce the cost of launches to ¥5 billion, half the price of the previous mainstay H2A's launches. The firing test, which marked the final stage of this process, finished without any significant problems. JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. have jointly developed the H3. Thursday's test involved the sixth H3 rocket, which is a Type 30 test vehicle that has three main engines and no boosters. The three main engines were fired for 25 seconds while the rocket remained attached to the launchpad. JAXA will check acceleration, temperature and other data collected during the test. Successfully launched H3 rockets have so far had two main engines and two boosters. The H2A rocket that was retired last month had either two or four boosters, but none of the H2A rockets was boosterless. If JAXA confirms the rocket performed as expected during the firing test, it will be scheduled to blast off carrying dummy satellites and other cargo before the end of fiscal 2025, which runs through March 2026. Later H3 rockets are scheduled to launch satellites including the government's information-gathering satellites from fiscal 2026 onward.
NHK
18-07-2025
- NHK
Japanese researchers: Rock samples from asteroid oldest found in solar system
Researchers in Japan are claiming a landmark discovery. They say rock samples retrieved from an asteroid are the oldest ever found in the solar system. Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 brought the samples back from asteroid Ryugu. They measure less than 0.1 millimeters each. The researchers come from institutions including Hokkaido University. They say the rock was formed in high temperatures 4.5673 billion years ago, shortly after the birth of the solar system. They also say the rock is older than Ryugu, which is made of minerals that formed by reacting with water about 4.562 billion years ago. They add that the asteroid was likely formed somewhere farther from the sun. Associate Professor Kawasaki Noriyuki of Hokkaido University says the findings shed light on how raw materials in the solar system behaved and formed astral objects.
Yomiuri Shimbun
18-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Businesses Expanding Space-Related Operations; Government Making Plans to Increase Public Support
An increasing number of companies in Japan are making efforts to strengthen their operations related to outer space. This striking trend includes automakers, banks and other businesses with no prior connections to space. Startups are also joining the field one after another. However, competition is increasingly fierce, and for now the United States and China are the frontrunners. Japanese companies in the field will not flourish without cooperation between the public and private sectors. New possibilities In June, Honda Motor Co. became the first private company in Japan to successfully launch and land a reusable small rocket. To do this, the company used technology it had cultivated for projects such as developing self-driving vehicles. Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of the automaker, was in charge of research and development of the reusable rocket. In an address given in Tokyo on July 8, Honda R&D President Keiji Otsu said emphatically, 'Space is a place of new possibilities.' Major companies in such fields as telecommunications and financial services are enhancing their space-related operations, and a growing number of startups are entering the field. According to research by the Spacetide Foundation, a general incorporated entity for promotion of space development, the number of startups in the space development field in 2025 was 109, an increase of about 40% from three years ago. ¥260 trillion market With space being used more and more in fields such as national security and telecommunications, related industries are expected to grow rapidly. The global market size for space businesses is predicted to exceed ¥260 trillion in 2035, about triple what it was in 2023. According to the Cabinet Office, the number of rocket launches conducted by the United States in 2024 was 153, while China had 66, putting those two countries at the head of the pack for use of space-related technology. Japan conducted only five launches last year. Many of the American rocket launches were for commercial purposes, as more than half were made by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, which uses reusable rockets to minimize costs. Cost and speed vital One issue that Japanese companies face is the high cost of conducting rocket launches. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. aims to bring the cost of launching a rocket down to about ¥5 billion — half what it has been up to now — with its new primary rocket model, the H3, which it developed in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The government's Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, approved by the Cabinet in June, stipulates that the nation's space development policies should be enhanced. It sets a goal of boosting the size of the domestic market to ¥8 trillion in the first half of the 2030s, double what it was in 2020. A senior official of an economy-related government entity pointed out that victory in space development goes to whoever is fastest. Thus whether Japan wins or loses in this field will come down to the speed at which projects can be commercialized. Spacetide's Representative Director Masayasu Ishida said, 'Many countries all over the world, not just the major ones, are trying to cultivate space-related industries. It is essential also for Japan to stimulate demand and acquire human resources, technologies and investment.'
