The H-IIA is a family of liquid-fuelled rockets providing an expendable launch system for the purpose of launching satellites into geostationary orbit. It is manufactured by Mitsubishi and ATK Thiokol for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center.

The H-IIA is a derivative of the earlier H-II rocket, though has been substantially redesigned to improve reliability and minimize costs, after the H-II proved to be expensive and failure-prone. There are four different variants of the H-IIA for various purposes.

The H-IIA was first launched on August 29, 2001, and the sixth launch on November 29, 2003 failed. The rocket was intended to launch two reconnaissance satellites to observe North Korea. JAXA announced that launches would resume in 2005, and indeed the first successful flight took place on February 26 with the launch of MTSAT-1R.

Japan's eighth and next H-IIA launch is planned for this summer when the Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS ) will be lofted into orbit to carry out a remote sensing mission.

Basic Specs

• Length: 53m
• Stages: 2

Variants

JAXA now foresees to increase the diameter of the main cryogenic tank of the launcher in order to augment its performance.

H-IIA flights

References

• "H-IIA Expendable Launch Vehicle." SPACEandTECH. Accessed on February 16, 2005.

External links

• Encyclopedia Astronautica page
• H-IIA English page
• JAXA English page
• H-llA LAUNCH SERVICES
• JAXA Launch Schedule
• Tanegashima Space Center
• "Tanegashima Space Center" -- VISIT JAXA --
• Failed Launch, 11-29-2003
• Image
• Launch 2 Image