Japan launched a new optical reconnaissance satellite late Thursday to boost the country’s remote sensing capabilities. A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket in a figuration with a pair of SRB-A3 solid boosters lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan at 11:44 p.m. Eastern (0444 UTC Jan. 12). MHI confirmed separation of the satellite from the launch vehicle half an hour later. Aboard was the IGS-Optical 8 (Information Gathering Satellite) optical reconnaissance satellite. The satellite is expected to enter a roughly circular 500-kilometer altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). IGS-Optical 8 is reported to be both for tracking North Korean military activities and for civilian purposes including monitoring natural disasters. Japan’s Cabinet Satellite Information Center operate IGS satellites. The satellite series service Japan’s national defense and civil remote sensing needs. The launch was Japan’s first of 2024 and the 48th overall of the H-2A. Just two more launches of the rocket remain before its retirement. The first launch took place in August 2021. It suffered a launch failure in November 2003, resulting in the loss of an IGS satellite.
A H-2A rocket lifts off from Tanegashima space center Jan. 12 (UTC), 2024, carrying the IGS-Optical 8 satellite. Credit: MHI/via X
The previous H-2A mission launched the XRISM X-ray observatory and SLIM lunar lander. JAXA and NASA are currently troubleshooting XRISM. SLIM will begin its moon landing attempt at 10:00 a.m. Eastern (1500 UTC) Jan. 19.
The final launches of the IGS-Radar 8 and Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2) are scheduled to fly separately on the final two H-2A rockets later this year.
H3 flight 2 next month
JAXA and MHI are currently preparing for the second launch of the new-generation, expendable H3 launch vehicle. The H3 is the planned successor to the H-2 series.
The first failed in March 2023 with the loss of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3). That launch saw the second stage fail to ignite, triggering the launch vehicle’s flight termination system.
The second launch, from Tanegashima, will carry a dummy payload. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:22 p.m. Eastern Jan. 14 (0022 UTC Jan. 15). The launch period for H3 Test Flight No. 2 extends through the end of March.
The failure of the first H3 launch has led JAXA to delay the launch of its Martian Moons eXploration mission (MMX). The mission aims to collect samples from the Martian moon Phobos and return them to Earth.
MMX was due to launch on an H3 in September this year. It will instead launch during the following Mars launch window, some 26 months later, in 2026, once the H3 has proved its reliability. A 2026 launch would see the samples collected from Phobos reach Earth in 2031.
JAXA is working on plans for a new, large and reusable launch vehicle as the core of its future space transportation plans. The agency is considering liquid methane as the fuel for the rocket.
Japanese Earth observation company Axelspace has raised nearly $44 million to both expand its satellite constellation and provide smallsats for other applications. The Tokyo-based company announced Dec. 21 that it raised 6.24 billion yen ($43.9 million) in a Series D round from several Japanese companies and venture funds. The company, which last raised 2.58 billion yen in a Series C round in 2021, has brought in 14.3 billion yen since its founding in 2008. The company currently operates five microsatellites that provide medium-resolution imagery through a service it calls AxelGlobe. Four of those satellites launched in 2021, three years after its first satellite. Axelspace said the new funding will support expansion of its satellite constellation but did not provide details about the plans. The Series D round will also go towards an initiative Axelspace announced in 2022 called AxelLiner, where the company will produce microsatellites for other customers. The goal of the service is to provide a “one-stop service” for the production, launch and operations of smallsats for other customers. At the time of the AxelLiner announcement, the company said it would work with two other Japanese firms, Misumi Group Ltd. and Yuki Holdings Inc., in an alliance for mass production of smallsats. The first demonstration satellite of that effort is scheduled for launch in early 2024. “With this financing, we hope to further solidify the business foundations of both AxelGlobe and AxelLiner services and to establish ourselves as a leading player in providing comprehensive microsatellite solutions,” Yuya Nakamura, president and chief executive of Axelspace, said in a statement about the financing round.
In addition to building satellites for its own Earth observation constellation, Axelspace is offering satellites for other customers. Credit: Axelspace
Axelspace is part of a trend of companies that initially built satellites for their own businesses but now offer them to others. Spire, which operates a large cubesat constellation for weather and tracking data, has won several customers for its “space as a service” business line, offering satellites and related capabilities.
Several Axelspace investors cited that move into satellite manufacturing and services as a key factor in their decisions to participate in the round. “We have decided to invest in the space industry, a new growth engine for Japan, and specifically in Axelspace,” said Jun Takahashi, president of SMBC Venture Capital Management Co., lead investor in the round. “We are impressed by its achievement in pioneering the space industry and hold high expectations for their future global contributions as a satellite manufacturer and a data service provider.”
“We have decided to invest in Axelspace, a pioneer in the field of microsatellites, in the hope that they will become a global unicorn company from Japan and take the company to the next level,” said Yasuhiko Yurimoto, chief executive of Global Brain Corporation, another investor in Axelspace.
The funding round is the latest sign of growing investor interest in Japan for entrepreneurial space companies. Satellite servicing company Astroscale, based in Tokyo with operations in several countries, has raised more than $376 million, including a $76 million Series G round in February. That round included a strategic investment from Japanese satellite manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric.
In April, Japanese lunar lander developer ispace went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange shortly before its first lander crashed on final approach to the lunar surface. It is working on a second lander scheduled to launch in 2024.
Another Japanese company, iQPS, went public on the same exchange Dec. 6, raising $24 million. The company said the funding would support its development of a constellation of synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites.
Japan’s SLIM robotic spacecraft entered lunar orbit Dec. 25, setting up a moon landing attempt scheduled for Jan. 19. SLIM completed a roughly three-minute-long lunar orbit insertion burn at 2:51 a.m. Eastern (0751 UTC), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Christmas Day. SLIM is now in a 600 x 4,000-kilometer polar lunar orbit, as planned. The spacecraft is currently in a normal condition, JAXA stated. It will soon begin gradually lowering its orbit in preparation for landing. The landing attempt is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern (1500 UTC) Jan. 19, landing around 20 minutes later. The lander will aim to set down within a 100 meters of its target point on the slope of the mid-latitude Shioli crater. SLIM launched Sept. 6 on a H-2A rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center along with the XRISM space telescope. SLIM spacecraft entered low Earth orbit and began a series of orbit-raising maneuvers as part of its circuitous voyage to the moon. It made a translunar injection burn Sept. 30, making a lunar flyby Oct. 4. This set the spacecraft on a long, looping, propellant-saving journey to the moon, leading to lunar orbit insertion on Christmas Day. SLIM will next gradually lower its apolune, or farthest point from the moon, and enter a circular orbit at an approximately 600-kilometer-altitude in mid-January, according to JAXA.
Perilune will then be lowered, reaching a 15-km-altitude orbit Jan. 19 Japan time, ready for the Jan. 19 landing. SLIM will begin to decelerate from a speed of around 1,700 meters per second at that point.
Five crushable, 3D-printed aluminum lattice landing legs will help the lander absorb the of impact of touch down and settle on the sloped rim of the 300-meters-wide Shioli crater.
A successful SLIM landing would make Japan the fifth country to soft land on the moon. In August India became the fourth nation to achieve the feat with its high latitude Chandrayaan-3 mission landing.
The main objective of SLIM is to demonstrate a highly-accurate lunar soft-landing with a lightweight architecture. It will use a vision-based navigation system and carries observational data from Japan’s SELENE orbiter launched in 2007. This system will be used to identify its landing zone during its autonomous descent and landing. It also carries a laser range finder for the final stages of descent.
Beyond the landing attempt itself, the spacecraft is designed to spend the remainder of the lunar day on the surface conducting experiments. SLIM carries a Multi-Band Camera (MBC) to assess the composition of Shioli crater by analyzing the spectra of sunlight reflected off its surface. Teams are particularly looking for the presence of the mineral olivine, which may have been ejected from beneath the moon’s crust.
SLIM is also carrying a pair of small, innovative rovers. Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV-1) uses a hopping mechanism, while LEV-2 is a baseball-sized, spherical rover. Both carry cameras and science payloads.
The mission could lead to lower cost exploration efforts in the future, according to JAXA. The accuracy of landings will be useful for accessing areas of high scientific interest instead of more general, safer landing zones.
The spacecraft has a dry mass of 200 kilograms and 700-730 kg wet mass at launch. The expected development cost was 18 billion yen ($120 million).
Japanese lunar exploration company ispace plans to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange next month, just before the company attempts its first landing on the moon. Tokyo-based ispace announced March 8 it won approval to list shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, reserved for smaller, higher-risk companies. Shares will start trading on the exchange April 12. According to a filing with the exchange, ispace plans to offer about 24.7 million shares, out of 78.6 million issued, in the initial public offering (IPO). The company will set the price of those shares on April 3. “Through this new listing, ispace seeks to commence dialogues with as many global investors in the stock market as possible and request their participation in this infrastructure construction project,” ispace said in a statement about the listing, referring to its long-term goal of establishing a “unified ecosystem” between the Earth and moon. The listing would take place just before ispace’s first lander, HAKUTO-R Mission 1, attempts a landing on the moon. At a Feb. 27 briefing, company executives said the spacecraft would land at Atlas Crater, located on the edge of Mare Frigoris in the northeastern quadrant of the near side of the moon, around the end of April. The spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around the moon in late March. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, deflected a question at that briefing about the possibility of going public. “We are always looking for multiple ways to raise funds to support our future missions,” he said. “An IPO is one solution for that.”
An artist's depiction of ispace's M1 lunar lander. Credit: ispace
The company has raised nearly $200 million in several private rounds, including a $46 million Series C round in August 2021. In the exchange filing, ispace reported having 93 million yen ($0.7 million) in capital as of March 8.
The plan by ispace to go public comes after another lunar lander developer, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that closed Feb. 13. That raised $55 million from capital provided by an affiliate of the SPAC sponsor and company founders, rather than from proceeds of the SPAC itself.
Shares in Intuitive Machines, trading on the Nasdaq exchange, soared in the first days after the SPAC merger closed. The company’s shares closed Feb. 22 at nearly $82 after trading at one point during the day at $136.
It was not clear what drove the sharp increase, as the company made no major announcements during that time. “We are pleased with the interest in Intuitive Machines as we embark on life as a public company and continue to work tirelessly to deliver on our commitments to our customers and shareholders,” company spokesman Josh Marshall said Feb. 17, adding that the company is “focused on execution” after completing the SPAC merger.
Intuitive Machines’s stock price has tumbled since that Feb. 22 peak, though. Shares closed March 8 at $10.26, down 18.3% for the day and bringing the price back to just below where it was Feb. 13.
Japan’s space agency JAXA aborted the long-awaited first launch of H3 rocket Feb. 16, when the rocket’s side boosters failed to ignite after main engine start. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for Japan’s years-long efforts to develop a more capable and cost-effective alternative to the nation’s current workhorse, H-2A. Live footage showed the 63-meter expendable rocket, decorated with Japan’s national flag on the core stage with two strap-on side boosters attached, standing idle at the seafront launch pad of Tanegashima Space Center when the countdown was over. “The main engine was ignited, but side boosters were not,” said the range control center, shortly after the rocket’s pre-announced launch window of 8:37-8:44 p.m. Eastern. “It is expected that it would probably take longer to examine the situation. The status of launch vehicle Test Flight No.1 will be announced to all launch operators as soon as it will be confirmed.” JAXA also left a short notice on its website: “Further information will be updated on the JAXA website.” The agency didn’t elaborate on what happened. It’s also not known yet how the agency will examine the issue — after rolling back the rocket to the hangar or at the launch pad. The planned launch was initially targeted for Feb. 14, but bad weather caused a two-day delay. Aboard the rocket was Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), a 3-ton optical imaging satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which will follow in the footsteps of the original Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS). ALOS was launched in 2006 onboard an H2A and declared dead in orbit in April 2011. ALOS-2 is still operating after being launched in May 2014.
Japan’s journey to develop H3 was long and winding. JAXA began developing H3 in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in 2014. It is meant to replace H-2A that has been operational since August 2001 with a new one with “high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost-performance.”
The rocket’s inaugural launch was originally scheduled for March 2021, but was pushed back by around two years due to issues with the newly developed LE-9 first-stage engine.
The problems were first uncovered during qualifications testing in May 2020, which included cracked turbine blades in the LE-9’s turbopump assembly and a hole seared into its combustion chamber wall. To fix these, JAXA and MHI had to redesign the engine’s fuel turbopump and apply those same changes to the engine’s oxygen turbopump.
H3’s four variants
There are four variants of the H3 rocket, each in a unique configuration of LE-9 engines and side-mounted solid rocket boosters. The rocket can fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Depending on the version of the rocket, it can place a payload of at least 4 tons into a sun synchronous orbit (SSO), with a maximum capacity of 6.5 tons into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It’s a significant improvement from H-2A’s capacity of 3.8 tons to SSO and 4 tons to GTO. Future upgrades could make it possible for the rocket to deliver cargo to the moon, including the planned lunar Gateway that NASA is pursuing in cooperation with JAXA, the European Space Agency and others.
Japan’s new H3 rocket is designed to fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Credit: JAXA
The H3 rocket’s LE-9 is not only a more powerful engine than H-2A’s LE-7. It also employs a novel design, called an expander bleed cycle, that Mitsubishi was the first to introduce with its LE-5A upper stage engine. In addition, the H3 stands to be the first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle engine for its first stage, a design choice meant to yield higher engine thrust at the expense of efficiency.
On the price front, the launch cost of the H3 is reportedly around $50 million, half that of the H-2A.
Meanwhile, Japan has launched one orbital mission so far this year: a H-2A successfully delivered Japan’s IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite to orbit on Jan. 25.
The United Arab Emirates said it plans to launch its "Hope" Mars probe on Friday local time from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center after a two-day delay due to poor weather there. A rocket is due to blast off at 5:43 am local time (2043 GMT Thursday) carrying the unmanned spacecraft that is bound to orbit the Red Planet in the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The launch was postponed from 2051 GMT Tuesday because of inclement weather at the remote Japanese launch site, but remains well within the launch window which runs until August 13. The Emirati project is one of three racing to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, taking advantage of the period when the Earth and Mars are nearest: some 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) apart. "Hope" -- or Al-Amal in Arabic -- is expected to reach Mars's orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates. Once there, it will loop the planet for a whole Martian year, or 687 days. The probe is expected to detach from the launch rocket about an hour after blast-off, which is when the UAE Mars mission's deputy project manager Sarah al-Amiri said the real excitement will begin. "In my heart of hearts, I'm looking forward to the initial 24 hours after separation, and that's where we see the results of our work," said Amiri, who is also Minister of State for Advanced Sciences.
"It is when we first get the signal, when we know that every part of the spacecraft is functioning, when the solar panels are deployed, when we hit our trajectory and are headed towards Mars," she told AFP earlier this month.
Keiji Suzuki from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is carrying the Hope probe into space, had already warned on Monday that thunderstorms forecast could delay the launch.
- Big ambitions -
The UAE -- which is better known for its skyscrapers, palm-shaped islands and mega attractions -- has in recent years been pushing to expand its space sector.
While the objective of the Mars mission is to provide a comprehensive image of the weather dynamics in the Red Planet's atmosphere, the probe is a foundation for a much bigger goal -- building a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years.
The UAE also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.
Dubai has hired architects to imagine what a Martian city might look like and build it in its desert as "Science City", at a cost of around 500 million dirhams (135 million dollars).
And last September, Hazza al-Mansouri became the first Emirati in space, part of a three-member crew that blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, returning home after an eight-day mission in which he became the first Arab to visit the International Space Station.
Several dozen probes -- most of them American -- have set off for the Red Planet since the 1960s. Many never made it that far, or failed to land.
The drive to explore Mars flagged until the confirmation less than 10 years ago that water once flowed on its surface.
"What is unique about this mission is that for the first time the scientific community around the world will have an holistic view of the Martian atmosphere at different times of the day at different seasons," the mission's project manager Omran Sharaf told Monday's briefing.
"We have a strategy to contribute to the global effort in developing technologies and science work that will help one day if humanity decides to put a human on Mars."
Japan's space agency on Monday launched a rocket carrying a satellite that will monitor greenhouse gases, as well as the first satellite built entirely in the United Arab Emirates. The nation's H-IIA rocket lifted off Monday afternoon at 1:08 pm (0308 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Centre, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). About 16 minutes later, it sent a Japanese satellite nicknamed Ibuki-2 into orbit. The satellite is officially named GOSAT-2, short for "greenhouse gases observing satellite-2", and is intended to provide data that will help Japan create and publish "emission inventories" of the CO2 output of various countries, as outlined in the Paris climate accord. The satellite will also make precision observations of methane and other gases.The Japanese rocket also released "KhalifaSat", the first satellite built entirely in the UAE by local engineers. "The launch of KhalifaSat is an unprecedented Emirati achievement," Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed said in a tweet."Our dreams to embrace space have become a reality." Five other smaller satellites are scheduled to be released from the Japanese rocket.
Japan's space agency and its private partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries see the international satellite launch market as a possible revenue stream.
Japan's space agency is developing the main engine for its next-generation H-III rocket, which could see service in fiscal 2020. The H-III will be key to Japan expanding its presence in the global satellite launch market, which has been dominated by the U.S., Europe and Russia. This marks the first time in about 20 years that Japan has been developing main rocket engines. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, began the first round of firing tests for the LE-9 engine on the southern island of Tanegashima in late April. A total of 11 ground tests are scheduled through June to check performance and durability. The LE-9 is a liquid cryogenic rocket engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in an expander bleed cycle. After completing another round of firing tests in fiscal 2018 starting next April, developers will construct the actual engine that will be installed in the H-III. The H-III will succeed the country's current H-series rockets, H-IIA and H-IIB. The H-III is designed to use three LE-9 engines when configured without strap-on solid rocket boosters, and two LE-9 engines when configured with them. The rocket is designed to launch with zero, two or four strap-on boosters, allowing it to deliver between two and seven metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit. IHI Aerospace, manufacturer of Japan’s Epsilon small launcher, is MHI’s supplier for the strap-on boosters for the H-2A and future H3. Kawasaki Heavy Industries provides the payload fairings.
The rocket will use commercially available components and a fuselage that can be mass produced, lowering launch costs to about half of the current price tag of approximately 10 billion yen ($88.6 million). The new, more powerful engine will allow the H-III to carry a midsize to large satellite weighing up to 6.5 tons -- 60% more than the H-IIA.
JAXA is working with the country's leading heavy machinery makers, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI, on rocket development. The total cost will likely reach about 190 billion yen.
With the powerful engine and lower launch costs, the government and space agency hope that the new rocket will garner more orders for satellite launches. They expect to send an average of about six H-IIIs into space from the Tanegshima Space Center every year.
Meanwhile, other countries are also working to roll out new rockets by around 2020. Russia currently launches on average some 30 rockets every year, while the U.S. sends up about 20 and China approximately a dozen. Japan launches only about three per year.
Unlike its competitors, Japan lacks launch centers. This puts it at a disadvantage as a work delay could affect the entire launch schedule of a satellite project. To compete with other countries, Japan has to improve its launch environment, including the capability for more frequent launches, and expand rocket development.
Japan’s experimental radar imaging satellite ASNARO-2 was launched Thursday aboard the third flight of the Epsilon rocket. Liftoff – from the Uchinoura Space Centre – occurred at the opening of a twenty-four-minute, two-second window opening at 06:06:11 local time (21:06 UTC on Wednesday). Japan’s first launch of 2018, Wednesday’s mission was originally scheduled towards the end of last year, before an electrical issue with the rocket delayed its liftoff. Epsilon was tasked with deploying the ASNARO-2 satellite into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. Advanced Satellite with New System Architecture for Observation 2 – or ASNARO-2 – is the second in a series of experimental Earth imaging satellites operated by Japan Space Systems, formerly the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF). A radar imaging mission, it follows the ASNARO-1 optical satellite that launched aboard Russia’s Dnepr rocket in November 2014. The mission is funded by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry through its New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
ASNARO-2 was constructed by NEC, and is based on the modular NEXTAR NX-300L platform. It measures 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) in length and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in height and width, excluding its solar panels and radar antenna. The satellite has a mass of 570 kilograms (1,257 lb) – including its 220-kilogram (485 lb) payload and 45 kilograms (99 lb) of propellant.
Two deployable solar arrays will generate electrical power for the satellite. At the end of the spacecraft’s five-year design life, these are still expected to be generating at least 1,300 watts of power.
ASNARO-2 will be operated in a near-circular sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of 505 kilometers (314 miles, 273 nautical miles) and an inclination of 97.4 degrees. It will orbit the Earth about once every 95 minutes.
The spacecraft carries XSAR, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload operating in the X band. This can be operated in three different observation modes: spotlight, strip mapping and scanning.
The spotlight mode, where the instrument focusses on a small area of the Earth’s surface, offers the highest resolution – one meter (3 feet) or better – with a swath width of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles, 5.4 nautical miles). In strip mapping mode, the satellite can image a longer strip of the Earth’s surface in the direction of travel.
This offers a resolution of better than 2 meters (7 feet) over a swath width of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles, 6.5 nautical miles). Scanning mode allows the satellite to image a wider area – with a swath width of at least 50 kilometers (31 miles, 27 nautical miles) – at a resolution of at least 16 meters (52 feet).
Japan’s Epsilon rocket will undertake the ASNARO-2 launch. Epsilon, which made its debut in September 2013 with the Hisaki – formerly SPRINT-A – satellite. In its standard configuration, Epsilon is a three-stage all-solid rocket, however it can also fly with an optional liquid-fuelled fourth stage. Thursday’s launch – designated Epsilon-3 – will use this four-stage configuration.
JAXA developed Epsilon to provide Japan a rocket capable of placing small satellites into orbit. It draws heavily on pre-existing components, with its first stage based on the SRB-A3 boosters used by the larger H-IIA rocket, and its upper stages derived from the older M-V vehicle. M-V, which Epsilon replaced, was retired in 2006 as its high cost-to-payload ratio made it uneconomical to operate.
During the gap between the M-V’s retirement and Epsilon’s introduction, JAXA relied on foreign rockets such as Dnepr to launch its small satellites.
The Epsilon launches from the same launch complex at the Uchinoura Space Centre that was used by the M-V – and earlier members of the Mu family of rockets. The Uchinoura Space Centre is one of Japan’s two operational orbital launch sites. The facility was originally used by Japan’s Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, or ISAS, one of three Japanese space agencies that merged in 2003 to form JAXA.
Before the merger, ISAS operated Japan’s smaller rockets – Mu, Lambda and the country’s sounding rockets – while the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) flew larger liquid-fuelled rockets from the Tanegashima Space Centre. While operated by ISAS, what is now Uchinoura was named the Kagoshima Space Centre.
The Mu rockets were rail-launched, so Uchinoura’s Mu Centre launch complex was originally designed as a rail launcher. Now that the complex is used by the vertically-launched Epsilon, it has been modified and the former launch rail now serves as an umbilical tower.
Although it is Epsilon’s third flight, Thursday’s launch was the first to combine both the operational version of the rocket and the CLPS upper stage. The operational form of Epsilon, described by JAXA as “Enhanced Epsilon” at the time of its last launch – although this name seems to have been dropped – incorporates enhanced second and third stages over the original design that flew the vehicle’s maiden flight. The second Epsilon used this “Enhanced” configuration, which is now the standard for all launches, while the CLPS was used on the first Epsilon launch.
Thursday’s launch began with ignition of Epsilon’s SRB-A3 first stage at the zero mark in the countdown. Epsilon lifted off and climbed quickly away from Uchinoura. The SRB-A3 burned for 108 seconds, propelling the rocket to a speed of 2.3 kilometers per second (1.4 miles per second). Following first stage burnout, the mission entered a brief coast phase as the vehicle continues to ascend.
Two minutes and 31 seconds into the flight, Epsilon was in space at an altitude of about 123 kilometers (76 miles, 66 nautical miles). The payload fairing, which will have protected ASNARO-2 during its ascent through the atmosphere, was no longer be needed and was jettisoned to save weight. Ten seconds later, the spent first stage separated.
Epsilon’s second stage, M-35, ignited four seconds after first stage separation. Producing 445 kilonewtons (100,000 pounds) of thrust, the stage burned for two minutes and nine seconds. The second stage separated 96 seconds after ending its burn and the KM-V2c third stage ignited four seconds later.
The third stage burn lasted 88 seconds. Separation occurred one minute and 52 seconds after burnout, with the fourth stage – the Compact Liquid Propulsion System (CLPS) – igniting after another four minutes and 37 seconds. CLPS uses hydrazine propellant. It made two burns during Thursday’s launch, with the first lasting five minutes and 16 seconds.
Once the upper stage’s first burn has concluded, the vehicle coasted for 23 minutes and 17 seconds before the second burn began. This was a seven-minute, seven-second firing of the CLPS to place ASNARO-2 close to its operational orbit.
Spacecraft separation occurred two minutes and 24 seconds after the end of the second burn, at 52 minutes, 35 seconds mission elapsed time. At separation, Epsilon was at an altitude of 513 kilometers (319 miles, 277 nautical miles).
Thursday’s launch was Japan’s first of 2018. In 2017 the country made seven orbital launches – the most it has achieved in a calendar year. Japan’s next scheduled launch is expected to be a reflight of last January’s attempt to place a CubeSat into orbit using a modified SS-520 sounding rocket. This launch was delayed from December, and is awaiting confirmation of a new launch date once Epsilon lifts off.
After the SS-520 launch, Japan’s next mission will then be an H-IIA flight at the end of February, which is expected to deploy an IGS optical reconnaissance satellite. Thursday’s launch will be Epsilon’s only flight in 2018 – its next launch is currently scheduled for the first quarter of 2019 with the Innovative Technology Demonstration Satellite.
