An H3 rocket, flying for the first time in the HE-30S configuration, lifts off June 11 (U.S. time) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: JAXA
WASHINGTON — Japan’s H3 rocket launched June 11 on its first flight since a failure in December, placing six smallsats in orbit.
The H3 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 8:54 p.m. Eastern. The launch was the first flight of a new configuration of the rocket, the H3-30S, which has three LE-9 engines in its first stage rather than the two used on other configurations, but does not use any solid rocket boosters.
The launch was primarily a test flight of the H3-30S variant but carried six small satellites. Among them was BRO-22, a satellite from French company Unseenlabs that will join the company’s constellation of maritime tracking spacecraft.
Unseenlabs said BRO-22 was the first satellite not built in Japan to launch on the H3, a launch arranged by Japanese integrator Space BD. “This collaboration with Space BD & JAXA is important for Unseenlabs. Japan is a strategic partner for France, and also for Unseenlabs,” said Clément Galic, chief executive of Unseenlabs, in a statement before the launch.
