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 — The Japanese government wants to sharply increase the number of launches despite struggles with both current and new launch vehicles.
In sessions at the Spacetide conference in Tokyo last week, Japanese government officials said the nation’s space policy has a KPI, or key performance indicator, of 30 launches a year from the country by the early 2030s. That includes both government and commercial launches.
That goal is tied to another: increasing the percentage of Japanese satellite launches conducted domestically, said Jun Kazeki, director-general of the National Space Policy Secretariat. That percentage is currently about 50%, but the government wants to increase it to 60% to 70%.
That is an ambitious target because Japan, so far this year, has conducted just two orbital launches. An H3 rocket launched June 11 on a test flight of a new variant of the vehicle. That launch also served as a return to flight for the H3 family after the previous launch in December failed to place its payload, a navigation satellite, into orbit.
