Japan has not previously been a player in the space race. However, the Japanese Space Exploration Agency or JAXA has entered the prospect of space and all that entails in a big way in the wake of Russia being cut off from the European marketplace due to their invasion of Ukraine.

Japan intends to replace its current H-IIA rocket with the H3. The H3 is supposed to be more flexible, reliable, and cost-effective, but it failed on its first try. The debut was scrapped shortly after liftoff because it did not separate the first stage from the second time. It rapidly began to lose velocity and lift. A destruct message was sent via mission control. The problem was tracked back to the power supplies on the first stage of the LE-9 engines.

JAXA has been working with Mitsubishi Heavy industries on the LE-9 engines powered with liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen aboard the H3-22 rocket. This rocket can fly with two to four engines depending on the payload. They had high hopes that this would replace the H-IIA that had been a regular staple in their rocket stables and is slated to retire in 2024.

The H3 is one hundred eighty-seven to two hundred and seven feet tall depending on the payload configuration she carries. The H3 can deliver four or more tons into a three-hundred-ten-mile orbit up to six and a half tons into a geostationary orbit.

The H3 was hoisting an Advanced Land Observing Satellite – 3 (ALOS-3) sometimes called the DAICHI-3 into a sun-synchronous orbit approximately four hundred sixteen miles above the earth. It was supposed to be able to submit high-resolution pictures of areas in Japan and otherwise up to forty-three miles wide in a resolution of 2.6 feet, which is quite sharp.

JAXA had hoped to give SpaceX a run for its niche in space but will have to work fast and hard to usurp them. The Falcon-9 designed by SpaceX has already proven to be a top competitor as far as reliability and cost-effectiveness goes. Can JAXA catch up?