By RYO SASAKI/ Staff Writer
November 4, 2024 at 18:17 JST
Japan launched its fourth H-3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Nov. 4 and released the government’s X-band defense communications satellite Kirameki-3 into orbit.
The launch at 3:48 p.m. was the first for the H-3 carrying a “geostationary satellite.”
The H-3, the successor to the larger H-2A rocket, was jointly developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
After the first H-3 launch failed, the second, third and now fourth launches were successful.
The Defense Ministry will maintain and operate the Kirameki-3, which will be used for command and control of Self-Defense Forces units and other important communications.
The cost of development and operation of the satellite is about 70 billion yen ($460 million).
The satellite will move in a geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above the equator at the same period as the Earth’s rotation. It will appear stationary when viewed from Earth.
It is difficult for a rocket to directly reach geostationary orbit, so it enters a long elliptical orbit, called a geostationary transfer orbit. This connects an orbit at an altitude of several hundred kilometers near Earth and the targeted geostationary orbit.
The Daichi-4 satellite, which was launched by the third H-3 rocket, is flying in a low orbit at an altitude of 628 kilometers.
In the latest launch, the altitude at which the satellite separated from the rocket did not change significantly. But Kirameki-3 was flown at a higher speed so that it could enter an elliptical orbit using its own engines and fuel.
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The fourth H-3 rocket, carrying an X-band defense communications satellite called Kirameki 3, is launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Nov. 4. (Kengo Hiyoshi)
