Japan Makes Third Attempt To Launch Next-gen Rocket

Tokyo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Feb, 2024) Japan's space agency will try to launch its new flagship rocket on Saturday, hoping for a third time lucky following years of delays and two aborted attempts.

The next-generation H3 rocket has been mooted as a possible competitor to Space X's Falcon 9, and could one day be used to deliver cargo to bases on the Moon.

But that's only if Japan -- which last month landed an unmanned probe on the Moon at a wonky angle -- can get it into orbit.

The first H3 launch a year ago was abandoned after ignition issues left the rocket standing motionless on the ground.

On the second try in March, technical problems meant a destruct command was issued shortly after the blast-off.

Designed for "high flexibility, high reliability, and high-cost performance", the H3 will "maintain Japan's autonomous access to space", space agency JAXA says.

The rocket, billed as a flexible and cost-effective new flagship, is scheduled to lift off between 9:22 am and 1:06 pm (0022 and 0406 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.

Co-developed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and intended for more frequent commercial launches, it is the successor to the country's H-IIA model, which debuted in 2001.

H3 will be "an all-rounder -- able to launch satellites into Earth orbit, serve as a supply vehicle for space stations, and go to the Moon," said associate professor Alice Gorman, a space exploration expert at Flinders University.

But "there's a common saying that 'space is hard', to explain why launch failures are a fact of life," she told AFP, comparing the attempts to "training for a marathon".

A successful launch on Saturday would bolster JAXA's reputation after a string of failures, including of a different rocket, a solid-fuel model called the Epsilon-6.