Tokyo, 17 Feb (Xinhua) -- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a new generation of H3 (hereinafter referred to as Test 2), a new generation of main launch vehicle named Test 2, on 17 February, and achieved success.
At 9:22 local time (8:22 Beijing time) on the 17th, Experiment 2 lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan. The main task of this launch is to confirm the attitude control and star-rocket separation performance of the rocket.
About 17 minutes after launch, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that it had confirmed that the second-stage engine of Test 2 had stopped burning normally and that the rocket had entered the target orbit. Subsequently, Test 2 successfully separated from an ultra-small satellite on board.
The launch was originally scheduled for February 15, but was postponed due to weather conditions.
Japan attempted to launch the H3 launch vehicle named Test 1 on February 17, 2023, but the rocket did not lift off after the countdown was due to an abnormal power supply system for the main engine of the rocket's first stage. When the rocket was launched again on March 7, shortly after liftoff, the second stage engine failed to ignite due to an abnormal power supply system of the rocket, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency issued a self-destruct command to the rocket, and the launch was declared a failure.
Japan's main launch vehicle, the H2A, was put into service in 2001. It is planned that the H2A rocket will be decommissioned after completing its 50th launch in fiscal year 2024. Japan hopes that the H3 rocket, which has a higher carrying capacity and lower cost, will succeed the H2A rocket. (ENDS).