Japan successfully launches rocket, after failure last year – 02/17/2024 – Science
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Japan successfully launched its new rocket model, the H3, this Saturday (17), putting its special program back on track after several setbacks, including the failure of last year’s maiden flight.
The launch also marks the second consecutive victory for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as Jaxa, after its lunar lander, Slim, achieved a precise landing last month, making Japan the fifth country to place a spacecraft on Earth. Moon.
A relatively small player in space in terms of number of launches, Japan wants to revitalize its program, in a partnership with the USA, to compete with China.
The H3 took off at 9:22 am local time. In celebration, the scientists applauded, shouted and hugged each other at the Tanegashima Space Center, in southern Japan, after the flight.
In the first launch, in March last year, ground control ended up destroying the rocket 14 minutes after takeoff, when the second stage engine failed to ignite. Jaxa listed three possible electrical faults in an analysis released in October, but was unable to identify the direct cause.
Five months earlier, Jaxa’s small Epsilon rocket also failed to take off.
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