Japan's new H3 rocket lifts off after failed launch in 2023

Japan launched its new H3 rocket at a space center on a southwestern island Saturday following a failure last year that cast doubt over the country's aspirations in the space industry.

With the latest launch, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aims to confirm the rocket's capacity to control its positioning and deploy satellites. The H3 is expected to be a successor to the current mainstay H2A rocket.

The No. 2 H3 rocket lifted off around 9:22 a.m. from the Tanegashima Space Center on an island in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, carrying a mock satellite and two functioning microsatellites.

The mock satellite matches the weight and balance of the one on the No. 1 H3 rocket, which in March last year was ordered to self-destruct minutes after launch due to its second-stage engine failing to ignite. The failure followed a string of delays in the rocket's development.

The No. 2 rocket has an improved ignition system, JAXA said.

The H3 was developed as Japan's next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicle. It is expected to give the country continuous access to space as it aims to gain a foothold in the increasingly competitive satellite launching business.

In addition to satellite launches, the H3 launch vehicle can deliver supplies and materials to the International Space Station and the Gateway, a lunar-orbiting outpost planned under the U.S.-led Artemis space program.

The launch service price for the H3 will be lower than that of the H2A, according to JAXA.

The launch of the No. 2 rocket was initially scheduled for Thursday but was postponed due to forecasted bad weather.

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