Japan Aborts H3 Rocket Launch Following Engine Ignition Failure

An aerial view shows an H3 rocket carrying a land observation satellite failing to lift off after apparent engine failure at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Feb. 17, 2023. Kyodo via Reuters

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was forced to abort the first-ever launch attempt of its powerful new H3 rocket on Feb. 16 after secondary booster engines failed to ignite—the latest in a series of delays that have plagued the rocket project.

The test flight was conducted on Thursday evening at Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center and was expected to send a satellite into orbit. The H3 rocket had hit the countdown to zero, only for the launch to be aborted. Though its two LE-9 engines ignited, the two solid boosters failed. The 187-foot rocket remained on the ground along with the ALOS-3 land observation satellite, which could be used for detecting North Korean ballistic missiles.

“An onboard system detected an abnormality and did not send ignition signals to the boosters,” Masashi Okada, a project manager at JAXA, said in an online press conference, according to Kyodo News.

“It is difficult to call it a failure,” Okada said while adding that the rocket’s safety features had worked as intended. “The system had recognized the anomaly, and the launch was soundly aborted.”

No issue with the main engine was detected, and according to Okada, JAXA will now target Feb. 18 to March 10 as a secondary launch window.

H3 Launch Postponements

The H3 launch was initially scheduled for 2020 but was postponed due to a delay in engine development. It was then set for late 2022, but was again postponed owing to issues with the rocket’s main engine.

This month, the launch was originally set for five days earlier but was delayed two times due to weather issues. Thursday’s launch abortion adds to the woes faced in launching the rocket.

JAXA is said to have high hopes for the H3 which is designed to be cost-effective. The space agency has been cooperating with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and developing the rocket for a decade.

The newly-developed main engine of H3 has fewer parts due to an alteration made to the combustion method which replaced most of the rocket components with auto parts. The H3 is designed to send satellites into orbit and transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

Capturing the Space Market

The H3 rocket aims to boost Japan’s access to space and improve its share in the global launch market, helping it compete with rivals like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

H3, developed as a successor to the H-2A rocket, has been in service for two decades and is set to mark its 50th launch in the coming years. Developed at a cost of 200 billion yen (about $1.5 billion), the H3 can not only carry more payload, it also cuts down launch costs by around 50 percent.

According to a September report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), launching a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to low orbit would cost $2,600 per kilogram which is almost four times cheaper than H3 predecessor H-2’s cost of $10,500 per kilogram.

The H2-A, a later version of the H-2, had a payload capacity similar to the Falcon-9. However, it cost $90 million per launch as compared to the SpaceX rocket’s $67 million. JAXA put the launch cost of H3 at $50 million, giving it a pricing advantage over SpaceX.

According to the Satellite Industry Association, the commercial satellite industry raked in $386 billion in revenues in 2021.