Tim Furniss/LONDON
The $300 million-plus failure of Japan's H2 booster and a communications satellite on 15 November has brought to $2 billion the total value of space hardware lost this year. There have been six launch failures and five in-orbit satellite failures, plus satellite in-orbit anomalies.
Despite the high rate of equipment losses, the insurance industry's exposure is much less than last year because some of the failures were uninsured. As a result, losses amount to around $500 million, compared with $1.8 billion in 1998.
The H2 failure was caused by the premature shutdown of the LE-7 cryogenic first stage engine 3min 59s after launch from the Tanegashima Space Centre, followed by the automatic self-destruct of the vehicle at an altitude of 45km. Debris fell into the sea 380km (240 miles) north west of the Ogasawara Islands. The LE-7 should have burned for 5min 46s.
The failure resulted in the loss of a $95 million multifunctional transport satellite (MTSAT), built for Japan's Ministry of Transport by Space Systems Loral. The 1,600kg (3,500lb) MTSAT was to have augmented air traffic control communications and weather services from geostationary orbit.
The failed launch was the seventh and final flight by the H2 since launches began in 1994. It was also the second consecutive failure of an H2, following the loss of the Comets satellite, stranded in the wrong orbit last year after the premature shutdown of its LE-5 second stage engine. The Japanese are planning a new satellite and hope to launch it by late next year.
The MTSAT launch had already been delayed several times because of technical problems with the satellite, the booster and ground components. Its success was seen as vital to improve potential customer confidence as a prelude to launches of an uprated booster, the H2A.
Japan aims to launch the uprated H2A next June. The vehicle incorporates improved LE-7A and LE-5 first and second stage engines and new solid rocket boosters.
The lost H2 was considered a hybrid vehicle, designated the H2S, as it carried the improved LE-5 second stage engine planned for the H2A. The development of the H2A was instigated with the aim of reducing launcher production costs, reducing the charge for commercial flights to $80 million, rather than $120 million quoted for the H2.
Later H2A versions will incorporate LE-7A-powered first stages strapped together, increasing orbital capability considerably.
Development problems, particularly with the improved rocket engines, have pushed the maiden launch back by more than a year. It is being marketed commercially by Rocket Systems.
The first H2A will be used for a free launch of the European Space Agency's Artemis satellite.
Source: Flight International
