TOKYO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Japan's space agency on Saturday successfully launched its next-generation H3 rocket nearly a year after the maiden launch failure, rekindling the country's space exploring aspirations.
At about 9:22 a.m. local time (0022 GMT), the vehicle, H3 rocket test flight No.2, was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, the live feed of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) showed.
Considering the failed attempt last year, a 2.6-ton mock satellite called VEP-4 for performance verification was loaded onto the H3 rocket instead of an actual satellite from the original plan, with two microsatellites riding along as piggybank payloads, said the JAXA.
The VEP-4 weighs about the same as Earth observation satellite Daichi-3, which cost 187.6 million U.S. dollars to develop and was lost during the failed launch of the first unit last March.
After the liftoff, the 57-meter, 422-ton rocket flew over the Pacific, with the second-stage engine ignition confirmed, and the first of its two microsatellites, the CE-SAT-IE, was separated and sent into orbit. Eight minutes later, the other microsatellite was also put into orbit.
JAXA project manager Masashi Okada told reporters that the launch was "a perfect success."
Development works for the next-generation heavy-lift H3 rocket started 10 years ago to replace the current mainstay H2A rocket which has been in operation since 2001 and is expected to be retired in the next fiscal year starting in April.
With Saturday's launch, the country aims to confirm the rocket's capacity to control its positioning and deploy satellites.
In addition to satellite launches, the H3 launch vehicle can deliver supplies and materials to the International Space Station and the Gateway, a lunar-orbiting outpost planned under the U.S.-led Artemis space program, national news agency Kyodo reported on Saturday.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa, expressing relief at the mission's success, told a press conference Saturday afternoon that Japan is securing international competitiveness with the launch and looks to enhance collaborations with private-sector and international partners.
"I would like to express my respect for the efforts of everyone involved over the years, and hope that Japan's mainstay rockets will continue to steadily accumulate achievements," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wrote on his social media account on X, formerly Twitter.
The launch, initially planned for Thursday, was rescheduled due to bad weather conditions, almost a year after the maiden launch failure in March 2023, when the rocket's second-stage engine failed to ignite, prompting a self-destruct sequence just minutes after liftoff. ■
