Japan's flagship rocket H3 launch postponed for one year to next year JAXA September 11, 16:41

Regarding Japan's new main rocket H3, which was scheduled to be launched this year, JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said that it was necessary to change a part of the design of the new main engine, and the time of launch Announced that it will be postponed for one year to the next fiscal year.

The H3 is Japan's flagship rocket, a new rocket being developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a successor to the H2A, and the first rocket was scheduled to be launched within this year.



At the press conference, JAXA announced that it will postpone the launch time by one year and make it next year because it is necessary to review the design of some equipment of the main engine "LE-9" being developed for H3. did.



According to JAXA, in an engine test conducted in May, 14 cracks with a length of about 1 cm were found in a part called a combustion chamber, and even inside a device called a turbo pump that feeds fuel. It means that it was confirmed that it was cracked.



For this reason, it is necessary to change a part of the design.



The "LE-9" is said to significantly reduce the number of parts and reduce development costs, while increasing the thrust of the engine by 1.4 times.



Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of JAXA, said, "Because it is the successor to H2A, we will do our utmost to achieve a successful launch."