WHEN Japan’s new H-2A rocket lifts off next week it will be carrying a very
heavy load—the future of the nation’s space programme. After two
successive launch failures and the scrapping of the previous H-2 programme,
Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA) desperately needs a
success.
The H-2A is a cheaper version of Japan’s heavy-lifting H-2, which was
designed to launch 1-tonne satellites into geostationary orbit. NASDA hopes that
a successful launch of the H-2A will put Japan back in the commercial satellite
launching business.
But the country’s space programme has been bedevilled by failure. In November
1999 the last H-2—and the £55-million satellite it was
carrying—had to be destroyed eight minutes after lift-off, when it veered
off course.
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NASDA announced in December 1999 that the H-2 would be scrapped and the H-2A
programme delayed. Then in February this year, the H-2A’s maiden launch had to
be postponed because of fuel leaks during tests and corrosion in the engine.
These setbacks have already lost Japan an important satellite-launching
contract with the Hughes aerospace corporation. Many analysts believe Japan’s
space programme would not recover from a third consecutive failure. Even the
president of NASDA admits as much. “We must have a successful launch because we
are on the brink of whether Japan will survive and remain in the space race,”
Shuichiro Yamanouchi told a meeting of the government’s Space Activities
Commission last month.
Preparations for the launch have been meticulous, right down to setting up a
special group to look into the possibility of thunderstorms near the launch
area. “Normally it takes us about 20 days to prepare for a launch,” says NASDA
spokesman Shinji Nio. “But since it is the all-important first launch, we are
taking twice as much time to carefully prepare for it.” And as if to underline
this cautious approach, the H-2A will not be carrying any payload on its maiden
launch—just in case.