Can Japan’s space sector reach for the stars after H3 rocket’s successful launch?

One of the satellites put into space using the H3 was developed by Canon Electronics, another belonged to a consortium that included Japan Space Systems.

The H3 is designed to succeed the H-IIA rocket, which first flew in 2001 and is reaching the end of its design life, with just two more launches scheduled.

Japan started work on the H3 some years ago but developing its first-stage LE-9 engine was more problematic than anticipated. The engine is designed to deliver 40 per cent more propulsion than the engine in the H-IIA, but its complexities caused the H3’s maiden launch to be delayed twice.

Saturday’s successful launch from the Tanegashima Space Centre saw the 57-metre rocket reach an altitude of 670km before it deployed the satellites. The vehicle can carry a larger payload than its predecessor and operate at a lower cost.

JAXA and MHI managed to bring development costs down by utilising some electrical components designed for cars and using 3D printers instead of fabricating new parts entirely from scratch.

While a launch with the SpaceX Falcon 9 would cost a client around 7.35 billion yen (US$49 million), the cost for a previous launch with the H-IIA was significantly higher at 10 billion yen. JAXA and MHI are aiming to bring the price of satellite delivery via the H3 down to just 5 billion yen.

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“It is not unusual for a developer to have a catastrophic failure in the first, second or third flights and they had that problem with the H3,” said Lance Gatling, president of Nexial Research and an aerospace and defence analyst.

“They have fixed that problem and now we have to watch the longer-term reliability, the next 10 launches or so,” he told