HELSINKI — Japan launched the Kirameki 3 communications satellite for defense purposes early Monday with the fourth flight of the H3 rocket.
The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H3 rocket lifted off at 1:48 a.m. Eastern (0648 UTC) Nov. 4, rising into thick clouds and rain above the Tanegashima Space Center.
The classified Kirameki 3 satellite was deployed just over 29 minutes into flight, marking apparent mission success. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) webcast ended shortly after the event and accompanied applause from mission control. The spacecraft will continue towards its eventual destination in geostationary orbit.
The two-stage H3 next-generation rocket is to succeed the H-2A, which has a single flight remaining. The H3 will be the country’s workhorse for civilian and military missions. These will include exploration missions and ISS resupply with the HTV-X cargo spacecraft.
The H3 comes in configurations with no solid rocket boosters, two SRBs or four SRBs for higher payload needs. The latter two variants can also utilize an elongated payload fairing.
The expendable rocket was designed to be more cost-effective and therefore competitive on the international commercial launch market.
The H3’s inaugural launch in March 2023, after numerous delays, suffered a second stage engine failure, leading controllers to issue a destruct command to destroy the stage and its ALOS-3 payload.
It received a boost in recent months with the announcements that the H3 will launch the Emirati asteroid mission, currently scheduled for 2028. Eutelsat in September announced it has signed a contract to use multiple H3 rockets from 2027.
Monday’s mission follows the launch of the ALOS-4 advanced Earth observation satellite on the third H3 rocket four months ago. The launch was Japan’s sixth overall in 2024, with the previous launch seeing the IGS Radar 8 satellite launched on the penultimate H-2A rocket in September.
The privately developed Japanese Kairos rocket from Space One exploded seconds after liftoff in March. The company is now targeting a second flight late Eastern Dec. 13.
Other Japanese spaceflight activities include the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), launched on a Falcon 9 in February, and launch of the StriX radar satellites for Japanese company Synspective on Rocket Lab Electron rockets. A Falcon 9 also launched the joint ESA-JAXA EarthCARE mission. The second lunar lander for private firm ispace is set for December. The mission will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket.
