Japan Self Destructs H3 Rocket

On 6th March 2023, Japan’s H3 rocket took off from the Tanegashima Space Center. It initially followed its planned trajectory, but experienced engine failure. This meant that Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) had to send a command for the rocket to self-destruct just 14 minutes after it took off. This was a big setback for Jaxa as this was the first time they had designed a medium-lift rocket in 3 decades. The government called the failure “extremely regrettable”.

Tuesday’s launch was following a suspended launch that occurred previously just 3 weeks prior, where the rocket failed to get off the launch pad due to faulty rocket boosters. However, Hirotaka Wantanabe (a space policy professor at Osaka University) told the press, “Unlike the previous cancell ation and postponement, this time it was a complete failure”. He added that it “will have a serious impact on Japan’s future space policy, space business and technological competitiveness”. Had the mission succeeded, Jaxa had planned to launch the H3 around six times a year for the next 2 decades.

What was the H3?

The H3 rocket was an attempt to create a cheaper alternative to Elon Musk’s Space X, as it ran on a lower-cost engine with 3Dprinted parts. Its primary purpose was to launch commercial and government satellites into the Earth’s orbit. The rocket was 57m (187) and had a monitoring satellite on board that was capable of detecting North Korean missile launches.

By Zahra