H-IIA

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H-IIA
H-IIA No. F23 rolls out to the launch pad in February 2014
FunctionMedium-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer
Country of originJapan
Cost per launchUS$90 million [1]
Size
Height53 m (174 ft)
Diameter4 m (13 ft)
Mass285,000–445,000 kg (628,000–981,000 lb)
Stages2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass10,000–15,000 kg (22,000–33,000 lb)
Payload to GTO
Mass4,100–6,000 kg (9,000–13,200 lb)
Associated rockets
Family
H-II
Derivative workH-IIB
Launch history
StatusActive
Launch sitesTanegashima, LA-Y
Total launches
  • 48
    • 202: 33
    • 204: 5
    • 2022: 3
    • 2024: 7
Success(es)
  • 47
    • 202: 33
    • 204: 5
    • 2022: 3
    • 2024: 6
First flight
  • 202: 29 August 2001
  • 204: 18 December 2006
  • 2022: 26 February 2005
  • 2024: 4 February 2002
Last flight
  • 202: 12 January 2024 (active)
  • 204: 22 December 2021
  • 2022: 14 September 2007
  • 2024: 23 February 2008
Type of passengers/cargo
Boosters –
LOX
The Liftoff of H-IIA Flight 19
The H-IIA rocket lineup
The H-IIA

H-IIA (H-2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. These liquid fuel rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit; lunar orbiting spacecraft; Akatsuki, which studied the planet Venus; and the Emirates Mars Mission, which was launched to Mars in July 2020. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center. The H-IIA first flew in 2001. As of February 2024, H-IIA rockets were launched 48 times, including 42 consecutive missions without a failure, dating back to 29 November 2003.

Production and management of the H-IIA shifted from JAXA to MHI on 1 April 2007. Flight 13, which launched the lunar orbiter SELENE, was the first H-IIA launched after this privatization.[1]

The H-IIA is a derivative of the earlier H-II rocket, substantially redesigned to improve reliability and minimize costs. There have been four variants, with two in active service (as of 2020) for various purposes. A derivative design, the H-IIB, was developed in the 2000s and made its maiden flight in 2009.

Vehicle description

The launch capability of an H-IIA launch vehicle can be enhanced by adding SRB-A solid rocket booster (SRB) and Castor 4AXL solid strap-on booster (SSB) to its basic configuration. The models are indicated by three or four numbers following the prefix "H2A":[2]

  • The first number in the sequence indicates the number of stages
  • The second, the number of liquid rocket boosters (LRBs)
  • The third, the number of SRBs
  • An optional fourth number shows the number of SSBs.

The first two figures are virtually fixed at "20", as H-IIA is always two-staged, and the plans for LRBs were cancelled and superseded by the H-IIB.

Variants

Launch system status
  Active
  Discontinued
  Cancelled
Designation Mass (tonnes) Payload to GTO (tonnes) Addon modules
H2A 202 285 4.1 2 SRB-A (SRB)
H2A 2022[3] 316 4.5 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 2 Castor 4AXL (SSB)
H2A 2024 347 5 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 4 Castor 4AXL (SSB)
H2A 204 445 6 4 SRB-A (SRB)
H2A 212 403 7.5 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 1 LRB [4][5]
H2A 222 520 9.5 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 2 LRBs [4]

Launch history

The first H-IIA was successfully launched on 29 August 2001, followed by a string of successes.

The sixth launch on 29 November 2003, intended to launch two IGS reconnaissance satellites, failed. JAXA announced that launches would resume in 2005, and the first successful flight took place on 26 February 2005 with the launch of MTSAT-1R.

The first launch for a mission beyond Earth orbit was on 14 September 2007 for the SELENE Moon mission. The first foreign payload on the H-IIA was the Australian FedSat-1 in 2002. As of March 2015, 27 out of 28 launches were successful.

A rocket with increased launch capabilities, H-IIB, is a derivative of the H-IIA family. H-IIB uses two LE-7A engines in its first stage, as opposed to one in H-IIA. The first H-IIB was successfully launched on 10 September 2009.

For the 29th flight on 24 November 2015, an H-IIA with an upgraded second stage[6] launched the Telstar 12V satellite, the first commercial primary payload for a Japanese launch vehicle.[7]

Flight

No.

Date (
UTC
)
Type Payload(s) Outcome
TF1 29 August 2001
07:00:00
H2A 202 Japan VEP 2
Japan LRE
Success
TF2 4 February 2002
02:45:00
H2A 2024 Japan VEP 3
Japan MDS-1 (Tsubasa)
Japan DASH
Success
F3 10 September 2002
08:20:00
H2A 2024 Japan USERS
Japan DRTS (Kodama)
Success
F4 14 December 2002
01:31:00
H2A 202
ADEOS 2 (Midori 2)
Japan WEOS (Kanta-kun)
Australia FedSat 1
Japan
Micro LabSat 1
Success
F5 28 March 2003
01:27:00
H2A 2024 Japan IGS-Optical 1
Japan IGS-Radar 1
Success
F6 29 November 2003
04:33:00
H2A 2024 Japan IGS-Optical
Japan IGS-Radar
Failure
A hot gas leak from SRB-A motor destroyed its separation system and the booster did not separate as planned. The weight of the spent motor prevented the vehicle from achieving its planned speed and height and it was destroyed via a ground command about 10 minutes into the flight.[8]
F7 26 February 2005
09:25:00
H2A 2022 Japan MTSAT-1R (Himawari 6) Success
F8 24 January 2006
01:33:00
H2A 2022
ALOS
(Daichi)
Success
F9 18 February 2006
06:27:00
H2A 2024 Japan MTSAT-2 (Himawari 7) Success
F10 11 September 2006
04:35:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 2 Success
F11 18 December 2006
06:32:00
H2A 204 Japan ETS-VIII (Kiku 8) Success
F12 24 February 2007
04:41:00
H2A 2024 Japan IGS-Radar 2
Japan IGS-Optical 3V
Success
F13 14 September 2007
01:31:01
H2A 2022 Japan SELENE (Kaguya) Success
F14 23 February 2008
08:55:00
H2A 2024 Japan WINDS (Kizuna) Success
F15 23 January 2009
03:54:00
H2A 202
GOSAT (Ibuki)
Japan SDS-1
Japan STARS (Kūkai)
Japan KKS-1 (Kiseki)
Japan PRISM (Hitomi)
Japan Sohla-1 (Maido 1)
Japan SORUNSAT-1 (Kagayaki)
Japan
SPRITE-SAT (Raijin)
Success [9]
F16 28 November 2009
01:21:00 [10]
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 3 Success
F17 20 May 2010
21:58:22 [11][12][13]
H2A 202 [14]
K-Sat (Hayato)
Japan Negai☆″
Success
F18 11 September 2010
11:17:00 [15]
H2A 202 Japan QZS-1 (Michibiki) Success
F19 23 September 2011
04:36:50 [16]
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 4 Success
F20 12 December 2011
01:21:00 [17]
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 3 Success
F21 17 May 2012
16:39:00
H2A 202 [18] Japan GCOM-W1 (Shizuku)
South Korea KOMPSAT-3 (Arirang 3)
Japan SDS-4
Japan HORYU-2
Success
F22 27 January 2013
04:40:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 4
Japan IGS-Optical 5V
Success
F23 27 February 2014
18:37:00
H2A 202 JapanUnited States GPM-Core
Japan SindaiSat (Ginrei)
Japan STARS-II (Gennai)
Japan TeikyoSat-3
Japan ITF-1 (Yui)
Japan OPUSAT (CosMoz)
Japan INVADER
Japan KSAT2
Success
F24 24 May 2014
03:05:14
H2A 202 SPROUT Success
F25 7 October 2014
05:16:00
H2A 202 Japan Himawari 8 Success
F26 3 December 2014
04:22:04
H2A 202 Japan Hayabusa2
Japan Shin'en 2
Japan ARTSAT2-DESPATCH
Japan PROCYON
Success
F27 1 February 2015
01:21:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar Spare Success
F28 26 March 2015
01:21:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 5 Success
F29 24 November 2015
06:50:00
H2A 204 Canada Telstar 12 Vantage Success
F30 17 February 2016
08:45:00
H2A 202
ASTRO-H (Hitomi)
Japan ChubuSat-2 (Kinshachi 2)
Japan ChubuSat-3 (Kinshachi 3)
Japan
Horyu-4
Success
The Hitomi telescope broke apart 37 days after launch.[19]
F31 2 November 2016
06:20:00
H2A 202 Japan Himawari 9 Success
F32 24 January 2017
07:44:00
H2A 204 Japan DSN-2 (Kirameki 2) Success
F33 17 March 2017
01:20:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 5 Success
F34 1 June 2017
00:17:46
H2A 202 Japan QZS-2 (Michibiki 2) Success
F35 19 August 2017
05:29:00
H2A 204 Japan QZS-3 (Michibiki 3) Success
F36 9 October 2017
22:01:37
H2A 202 Japan QZS-4 (Michibiki 4) Success
F37 23 December 2017
01:26:22
H2A 202 Japan GCOM-C (Shikisai)
Japan SLATS (Tsubame)
Success
F38 27 February 2018
04:34:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 6 Success
F39 12 June 2018
04:20:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 6 Success
F40 29 October 2018
04:08:00
H2A 202 Japan GOSAT-2 (Ibuki-2)
United Arab Emirates KhalifaSat
JapanPhilippines Diwata-2B
JapanTenkōh
JapanStars-AO (Aoi)
JapanAUTcube2 (Gamacube)
Success
F41 9 February 2020
01:34:00
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 7 Success
F42 19 July 2020
21:58:14
H2A 202 United Arab Emirates Emirates Mars Mission (Hope) Success
F43 29 November 2020
07:25:00
H2A 202
LUCAS
Success
F44 26 October 2021
02:19:37
H2A 202 Japan QZS-1R Success
F45 22 December 2021
15:32:00
H2A 204 United Kingdom Inmarsat-6 F1 Success
F46 26 January 2023
01:50:21
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 7 Success
F47 6 September 2023
23:42:11
H2A 202
XRISM
Japan SLIM
Success
F48 12 January 2024
04:44:26
H2A 202 Japan IGS-Optical 8 Success
F49 NET Q2 2024 H2A 202 Japan IGS-Radar 8 Planned
F50 NET Q3 2024 H2A 202
GOSAT-GW
Planned
Final flight of H-IIA, and H-II family as a whole.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Mitsubishi and Arianespace Combine Commercial Satellite Launch Services". SatNews. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012.
  2. ^ "H-IIA Launch Vehicle" (PDF). JAXA. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
  3. ^ 三菱重工、「H2A」2機種に半減・民営化でコスト減. NIKKEI NET
  4. ^ a b "Japan Reenters Rocket Race With New Improved H2A". Space Daily. 20 August 2001.
  5. ^ "H-2A".
  6. ^ "Launch Result of Telstar 12 VANTAGE by H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 29". JAXA. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. ^ William Graham (23 November 2015). "Japanese H-IIA successfully lofts Telstar 12V". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Launch Result of IGS #2/H-IIA F6". JAXA. 29 November 2003. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Launch Result of the IBUKI (GOSAT) by H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 15". MHI and JAXA. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  10. ^ "H-IIA F16". Sorae. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012.
  11. ^ "Launch Day of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 17". JAXA. 3 March 2010. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  12. ^ "Overview of Secondary Payloads". JAXA.
  13. ^ Tariq Malik (18 May 2010). "New Venus Probe to Launch Thursday From Japan After". space.com. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  14. ^ Chris Bergin (17 May 2010). "JAXA launch H-IIA carrying AKATSUKI and IKAROS scrubbed". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  15. ^ "New Launch Day of the First Quasi-Zenith Satellite 'MICHIBIKI' by H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 18". JAXA.
  16. ^ Chris Bergin (23 September 2011). "Japanese H-2A launches with new IGS military satellite". NASASpaceflight.
  17. ^ Chris Bergin (11 December 2011). "Japanese H-2A lofts IGS (Radar-3) satellite into orbit". NASASpaceflight.
  18. ^ "Launch Overview – H-IIA Launch Services Flight No.21". Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  19. ^ Clark, Stephen (18 April 2016). "Attitude control failures led to break-up of Japanese astronomy satellite". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

Sources

External links

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