u8nxprt
02-04-2002, 01:07 AM
TANEGASHIMA, Japan --In a triumph for the country's troubled space program, Japan has launched its biggest rocket to date -- an H-2A -- off the rocky Tangegashima islet.
The rocket, carrying a payload of two probes, was launched on Monday morning, clearing the way for a series of operational launches through 2005.
The black and orange unmanned craft jumped off the pad with a thunderous boom and quickly peeled into a pale blue sky on a billowing column of white smoke, The Associated Press reported.
High winds and poor visibility had forced Japan's space agency to postpone the launch from Sunday.
But conditions were near perfect Monday, and the launch went off despite a slight delay because a boat had entered a restricted area near the coastal liftoff site, according to AP.
The space shot of the 8.5 billion yen ($64 million) H-2A rocket is seen as a key test of Japan's bid to become a world leader in the aerospace business.
Monday's launch was its second and final test flight from Japan's space center in Tanegashima, a small island more than 980 kilometers (610 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
Liftoff clears way
A flawless liftoff clears the way for 11 "operational" flights scheduled over the next three years. It also helps prove the craft's mettle as a world-class competitor in the satellite launching business.
Japan's space program has been battered by bureaucratic wrangling, cost overruns and technical breakdowns.
But if a glitch were to throw the rocket off course or put a satellite in the wrong orbit, it could be back to the drawing board for the National Space Development Agency of Japan, or NASDA.
NASDA had to scrap an earlier series of rockets, the H-2, when one failed to get its payload in orbit and another had to be exploded by remote control so it wouldn't veer out of control.
U.S.-based Hughes Space and Communications International dumped an order for 10 satellite launches with Japan following those mishaps.
Yet even Monday's space shot was dogged by difficulty. Originally slated for January 31, the schedule was pushed back to repair two faulty fuel valves found during a pre-launch test.
Pacific arc
The newest H-2A rocket stands 57 meters (188 feet), slightly taller than its sister model launched in August.
It's also more technically advanced, armed with eight engines instead of four, and hauling two space probes instead of one.
Blasting off in an eastward direction from Tanegashima, the rocket is to arc over the Pacific Ocean and deploy the first of its two probes just south of the equator.
Designed to test re-entry technology for future manned flights, the DASH probe will circle the earth for three days before plunging into the Sahara Desert, according to the AP.
Just before the rocket cruises over South America, it will deploy the second probe, the MDS-1.
It will orbit earth for about a year testing how commercial components such as microchips, batteries and solar cells perform in outer space.
Japan's limited window
Successful launches aren't easy, but developing a viable commercial program is even more difficult. Of the 11 H-2A missions tentatively scheduled, all carry Japanese government -- not commercial -- payloads.
The H-2A can lift cargo of up to 4.5 tons, in line with Europe's Ariane rockets and the Delta rockets of the United States. But unlike its competitors who have flexible launch schedules from space centers in Florida and French Guiana, Japan has a limited launch window.
Concessions made to fishermen in the waters off the Tanegashima space center restrict rocket launches to 190 days a year.
Tanegashima is also farther away from the equator, where geostationary satellites have to be put in orbit. Getting a rocket there from Japan lumps on extra cost.
The rocket, carrying a payload of two probes, was launched on Monday morning, clearing the way for a series of operational launches through 2005.
The black and orange unmanned craft jumped off the pad with a thunderous boom and quickly peeled into a pale blue sky on a billowing column of white smoke, The Associated Press reported.
High winds and poor visibility had forced Japan's space agency to postpone the launch from Sunday.
But conditions were near perfect Monday, and the launch went off despite a slight delay because a boat had entered a restricted area near the coastal liftoff site, according to AP.
The space shot of the 8.5 billion yen ($64 million) H-2A rocket is seen as a key test of Japan's bid to become a world leader in the aerospace business.
Monday's launch was its second and final test flight from Japan's space center in Tanegashima, a small island more than 980 kilometers (610 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
Liftoff clears way
A flawless liftoff clears the way for 11 "operational" flights scheduled over the next three years. It also helps prove the craft's mettle as a world-class competitor in the satellite launching business.
Japan's space program has been battered by bureaucratic wrangling, cost overruns and technical breakdowns.
But if a glitch were to throw the rocket off course or put a satellite in the wrong orbit, it could be back to the drawing board for the National Space Development Agency of Japan, or NASDA.
NASDA had to scrap an earlier series of rockets, the H-2, when one failed to get its payload in orbit and another had to be exploded by remote control so it wouldn't veer out of control.
U.S.-based Hughes Space and Communications International dumped an order for 10 satellite launches with Japan following those mishaps.
Yet even Monday's space shot was dogged by difficulty. Originally slated for January 31, the schedule was pushed back to repair two faulty fuel valves found during a pre-launch test.
Pacific arc
The newest H-2A rocket stands 57 meters (188 feet), slightly taller than its sister model launched in August.
It's also more technically advanced, armed with eight engines instead of four, and hauling two space probes instead of one.
Blasting off in an eastward direction from Tanegashima, the rocket is to arc over the Pacific Ocean and deploy the first of its two probes just south of the equator.
Designed to test re-entry technology for future manned flights, the DASH probe will circle the earth for three days before plunging into the Sahara Desert, according to the AP.
Just before the rocket cruises over South America, it will deploy the second probe, the MDS-1.
It will orbit earth for about a year testing how commercial components such as microchips, batteries and solar cells perform in outer space.
Japan's limited window
Successful launches aren't easy, but developing a viable commercial program is even more difficult. Of the 11 H-2A missions tentatively scheduled, all carry Japanese government -- not commercial -- payloads.
The H-2A can lift cargo of up to 4.5 tons, in line with Europe's Ariane rockets and the Delta rockets of the United States. But unlike its competitors who have flexible launch schedules from space centers in Florida and French Guiana, Japan has a limited launch window.
Concessions made to fishermen in the waters off the Tanegashima space center restrict rocket launches to 190 days a year.
Tanegashima is also farther away from the equator, where geostationary satellites have to be put in orbit. Getting a rocket there from Japan lumps on extra cost.