The Japanese space agency’s H3 rocket system will return to the launchpad in early 2024 after an explosive failure this 12 months.
The H3 will launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) Tanegashima Space Center as soon as Feb. 14, 2024, officials said in an announcement released on Wednesday (Dec. 27).
The prime launch window runs between 7:22 p.m. and 11:06 p.m. EST Feb. 14 (0022 and 0406 GMT, or 9:22 a.m. and 1:06 p.m. local time in Japan on Feb. 15.) Backup launch windows for the mission, designated H3 Test Flight 2 (H3TF2), run from Feb. 15 through the tip of March.
The choice to launch H3 might be a 12 months after the failed inaugural flight of H3, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), on March 7, 2023. The brand new launch will haul a flight demonstration module, called the Vehicle Evaluation Payload-4, together with two small satellites generally known as CE-SAT-IE and TIRSAT.
Related: Japan’s latest H3 rocket fails on 1st test flight, advanced Earth commentary satellite lost
The H3 rocket stands at 187 feet or 207 feet (57 or 63 m) tall, depending on the way it is configured at launch, in line with JAXA. The launch system is able to hauling over 4 tons of payload to a 310-mile (500-kilometer) sun-synchronous orbit, meaning that the lighting conditions are consistent below the spacecraft.
The rocket also can send in excess of 6.5 tons to a geostationary transfer orbit — the type of orbits that satellites use to maneuver right into a geosynchronous orbit over Earth’s equator. (Geosynchronous orbits allow satellites to consistently stare upon one spot of Earth’s surface.)
Through the last flight attempt in March, H3 operators at JAXA issued a self-destruct command to the H3 launch system, explosively concluding its first test flight. The destruction of the H3 rocket also resulted within the lack of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), also generally known as DAICHI-3.
While the rocket lifted off successfully and achieved stage separation, around seven minutes into the flight, it was noticed that the rocket’s velocity was dropping. Operators also couldn’t confirm second-stage ignition. The self-destruct command was sent shortly afterwards.
A month before the launch failure on March 7, JAXA scuttled a liftoff of the identical H3 rocket resulting from a faulty power supply.
Neither JAXA nor MHI have disclosed many details of what caused the failure of the primary H3 test flight, in line with Space News. At a press conference in September 2023, MHI vice-president and general manager Iwao Igarashi said that an investigation into the H3 failure had been conducted, but didn’t elaborate.
The failed launch had ripple effects on one other Japanese rocket, generally known as the H-2A. Each rockets use an analogous second stage, causing H-2A’s next launch to be pushed back from May to Sept. 2023 in the course of the investigation.
H-2A’s launch on Sept. 6 went with out a hitch, nonetheless. It sent the moon-bound Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft and the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) telescope into space. XRISM is now working in orbit around Earth. SLIM reached lunar orbit at 2:51 a.m. EST (0951 GMT or 4:51 p.m. Japan time) on Monday (Dec. 25) ahead of an expected touchdown on the moon’s surface on Jan. 19.