H-II

H-II
	H-II rocket at Tsukuba science museum & planetarium
Function	Medium-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Nissan Motors (sub); Alliant Techsystems (sub, for the SRBs);
Country of origin	Japan
Size
Height	49 m (161 ft)
Diameter	4 m (13 ft)
Mass	260,000 kg (570,000 lb)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	10,060 kg (22,180 lb)
Payload to GTO
Mass	3,930 kg (8,660 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	H-II family
Based on	H-I
Derivative work	H-IIA, H-IIB
Comparable	Ariane 4
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Tanegashima, LA-Y1
Total launches	7
Success(es)	5
Failure(s)	1
Partial failure(s)	1
First flight	3 February 1994
Last flight	15 November 1999
Boosters
No. boosters	2
Maximum thrust	1,540 kN (350,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	273 s (2.68 km/s)
Burn time	94 seconds
First stage
Powered by	1 × LE-7
Maximum thrust	1,078 kN (242,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	446 s (4.37 km/s)
Burn time	346 seconds
Propellant	LH2 / LOX
Second stage
Powered by	1 × LE-5A
Maximum thrust	121.5 kN (27,300 lbf)
Specific impulse	452 s (4.43 km/s)
Burn time	600 seconds
Propellant	LH2 / LOX
	[edit on Wikidata]

The H-II (H2) rocket was a Japanese satellite launch system, which flew seven times between 1994 and 1999, with five successes. It was developed by NASDA in order to give Japan a capability to launch larger satellites in the 1990s.^[1] It was the first two-stage liquid-fuelled rocket Japan made using only technologies developed domestically.^[2] It was superseded by the H-IIA rocket following reliability and cost issues.

Background

Prior to H-II, NASDA had to use components licensed by the United States in its rockets. In particular, crucial technologies of H-I and its predecessors were from the Delta rockets (the manufacturer of the Delta rockets, McDonnell Douglas, later Boeing and the United Launch Alliance, would later use the H-IIA's technologies (the rocket itself is the successor to the H-II) to create the Delta III, albeit short lived). Although the H-I did have some domestically produced components, such as LE-5 engine on the second stage and inertial guidance system, the most crucial part, the first stage engine, was a licence-built version of the Thor-ELT of the US. By developing the LE-7 liquid-fuel engine and the solid booster rockets for the first stage, all stages of H-II had become "domestically developed".

The H-II was developed under the following policies, according to a NASDA press release:^[1]

Develop the launch vehicle with Japanese space technology.
Reduce both development period and costs by utilizing developed technologies as much as possible.
Develop a vehicle which can be launched from the existing Tanegashima Space Center.
Use design criteria which allows sufficient performance for both the main systems and subsystems. Ensure that development will be carried out properly, and safety is taken into account.

The H-II was new, incorporating larger LH₂/LOX tanks, and a new upper stage, consisting of a cylindrical LH₂ tank with a capsule-shaped LOX tank. The LH₂ tank cylinder carried payload launch loads, while the LOX tank and engine were suspended below within the rocket's inter-stage. The second stage was powered by a single LE-5A engine.^[3]

History

Development of the LE-7 engine which started in 1984 was not without hardships, and a worker died in an accidental explosion. The first engine was completed in 1994, two years behind the original schedule. The Rocket Systems Corporation (RSC), a consortium of 74 companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nissan Motors, and NEC, was established in 1990 to manage launch operations after the rockets' completion. In 1992, it had 33 employees.^[4]

In 1994, NASDA succeeded in launching the first H-II rocket, and succeeded in five launches by 1997. However, each launch cost 19 billion yen (US$190 million), too expensive compared to international competitors like Ariane. (This is in part due to the Plaza Accord's changes to the exchange rate, which was 240 yen to a dollar when the project planning started in 1982, but had changed to 100 yen a dollar by 1994.) Development of the next-generation H-IIA rockets started in order to minimize launch costs.

In 1996, RSC signed a contract with the Hughes Space and Communications Group to launch 10 satellites. The successive failure of flight 5 in 1998 and flight 8 in the following year brought an end to the H-II series and the contract with Hughes.^[5] To investigate the cause of the failure and to direct resources into the H-IIA, NASDA cancelled flight 7 (which was to be launched after F8 due to changes in schedule), and terminated the H-II series.^[2]

Launch history

Flight No.	Date / time (UTC)	Rocket, Configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Launch outcome
TF1 (Test Flight)	3 February 1994 22:20	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	OREX (Orbital Re-entry Experiment), VEP (Vehicle Evaluation Payload)	LEO / GTO	Success
TF1 (Test Flight)	Ryūsei, Myōjō
TF2	28 August 1994 07:50	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	ETS-VI (Engineering Test Satellite-VI)	GEO	Success
TF2	Kiku 6
TF3	18 March 1995 08:01	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	GMS-5 (Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5) / SFU (Space Flyer Unit)	GEO / LEO	Success
TF3	Himawari 5
F4	17 August 1996 01:53	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	ADEOS I (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite) / Fuji OSCAR 29, JAS-2	LEO	Success
F4	Midori, Fuji 3
F6	November 27, 1997 21:27	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) / ETS-VII (Engineering Test Satellite-VII)	LEO	Success
F6	Kiku 7 (Orihime & Hikoboshi)
F5	February 21, 1998 07:55	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	COMETS (Communications and Broadcasting Engineering Test Satellites)	GEO	Partial failure
F5	Kakehashi, Faulty brazing in second-stage engine cooling system caused engine burn through and cable damage resulting in shutdown midway through the upper stage's second burn, leaving spacecraft in elliptical LEO instead of GTO. Spacecraft thrusters raised orbit enough to complete some communications experiments.
F8	November 15, 1999 07:29	H-II	Yoshinobu Launch Complex	MTSAT (Multi-functional Transport Satellite)	GEO	Failure
F8	Cavitation in the first stage hydrogen turbopump impeller caused an impeller blade to fracture, resulting in loss of fuel and rapid shutdown of the engine at T+239 s. The vehicle impacted the ocean 380 km NW of Chichijima.

Gallery

The Ground Test Vehicle of H-II, now installed at Tsukuba Space Center.
The first and second stages of the canceled Flight 7, at a hangar in Tanegashima Space Center.

References

^ ^a ^b "H-II Launch Vehicle No.4" (Press release). NASDA. Archived from the original on 11 December 2003. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
^ ^a ^b JAXA. "H-II Launch Vehicle". Launch Vehicles and Space Transportation Systems. JAXA Website. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
^ "About H-II Launch Vehicle". JAXA. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
^ Helm, Leslie (1992-07-13). "Japan Discovers It's Harder to Be a Star in Space : Aerospace: The failure of a new rocket sets back its effort to become a key player in the commercial launch business". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
^ "Hughes cancels NASDA rocket deal". The Japan Times. 2000-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-14.

External links

H-II Launch Vehicle Archived 2013-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, JAXA.

[nasda-presskit-1] "H-II Launch Vehicle No.4" (Press release). NASDA. Archived from the original on 11 December 2003. Retrieved 2007-06-25.

[jaxa-2] JAXA. "H-II Launch Vehicle". Launch Vehicles and Space Transportation Systems. JAXA Website. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2007-06-25.

[3] "About H-II Launch Vehicle". JAXA. Retrieved 12 December 2022.

[RSC-4] Helm, Leslie (1992-07-13). "Japan Discovers It's Harder to Be a Star in Space : Aerospace: The failure of a new rocket sets back its effort to become a key player in the commercial launch business". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-05-19.

[Hughes-5] "Hughes cancels NASDA rocket deal". The Japan Times. 2000-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-14.

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[2]

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v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)