H3 Launch Vehicle, expendable launch system, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tokyo, Japan


The first launch of the H3 Launch Vehicle (H3/TF1)

Mar 7, 2023

The first H3 Launch Vehicle (H3/TF1:Test Flight No.1) launched the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3) “Daichi-3” from the Tanegashima Space Center, on 7 March 2023, at 01:37 UTC (10:37 local time). Because the second stage engine did not ignite as planned, a disctruct command has been sent and the mission was declared lost. The H3 Launch Vehicle is JAXA’s “new flagship rocket aiming at achieving high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost performance”. H3 is designed to offer several variants with “two types of fairings, two or three first-stage engines (LE-9), and zero, two or four solid rocket boosters (SRB-3) to deal with various payload sizes and orbits”.
 

The second launch of the H3 Launch Vehicle (H3TF2)

Feb 17, 2024

The second H3 Launch Vehicle (H3TF2 - Test Flight No.2) launched the Vehicle Evaluation Payload-4 (VEP-4), along with two small secondary payloads: CE-SAT-IE and TIRSAT, from the Tanegashima Space Center, on 17 February 2024, at 00:22 UTC (09:22 local time). The H3 Launch Vehicle is JAXA’s “new flagship rocket aiming at achieving high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost performance”. H3 is designed to offer several variants with “two types of fairings, two or three first-stage engines (LE-9), and zero, two or four solid rocket boosters (SRB-3) to deal with various payload sizes and orbits”.
 

H3 launches ALOS-4 (Daichi-4)

Jul 1, 2024

The third H3 Launch Vehicle (H3 F3) launched the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) “Daichi-4” from the Tanegashima Space Center, on 1 July 2024, at 03:06:42 UTC (12:06:42 JST). According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), ALOS-4 will “observe the Earth's surface using its onboard phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar (PALSAR-3)”.
 

H3 launches Kirameki 3 (DSN-3)

Nov 4, 2024

The fourth H3 Launch Vehicle (H3 F4) launched the X-band defense communication satellite-3 “Kirameki 3” (DSN-3 / Xバンド防衛通信衛星「きらめき3号」) from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, on 4 November 2024, at 06:48:00 UTC (15:48:00 JST).
 

H3 launches QZS-6

Feb 2, 2025

The fifth H3 Launch Vehicle (H3-22S/H3 F5) launched “MICHIBIKI” No. 6 (みちびき6号機), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System 6 (準天頂衛星, QZS-6), from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, on 2 February 2025, at 08:30 UTC (17:30 JST).
 
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