Liftoff of H-IIA Flight 19 |
|
| Function | Launch vehicle |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Size | |
| Height | 53 m (173 ft) |
| Diameter | 4 m (13.1 ft) |
| Mass | 445,000 kg (981,057 lb) |
| Stages | 2 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 10,000 - 15,000 kg (22,046 - 33,069 lb) |
| Payload to GTO |
4,100 - 6,000 kg (9,038 - 13,227 lb) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Launch sites | LA-Y, Tanegashima |
| Total launches | 20 (202: 9, 204: 1, 2022: 3, 2024: 7) |
| Successes | 19 (202: 9, 204: 1, 2022: 3, 2024: 6) |
| Failures | 1 (2024) |
| Maiden flight | 202: 29 August 2001 204: 18 December 2006 2022: 26 February 2005 2024: 4 February 2002 |
| Notable payloads | SELENE Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Akatsuki |
| Boosters (All Variants) - SRB-A, SRB-A3 | |
| No. boosters | 2 - 4 |
| Engines | 1 Solid |
| Thrust | 4,520 - 9,040kN (SRB-A) |
| Specific impulse | 280 sec |
| Burn time | 120 seconds |
| Fuel | Solid |
| Boosters (H-IIA 2022/2024) - Castor 4AXL | |
| No boosters | 2 - 4 |
| Engines | 1 Solid |
| Thrust | (1,490 - 2,980kN) |
| Specific impulse | 283 sec |
| Burn time | 60 seconds |
| Fuel | Solid |
| First stage | |
| Engines | 1 LE-7A |
| Thrust | 1,098 kN (246,840 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 440 sec |
| Burn time | 390 seconds |
| Fuel | LOX/LH2 |
| Second stage | |
| Engines | 1 LE-5B |
| Thrust | 137 kN (30,798 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 447 sec |
| Burn time | 534 seconds |
| Fuel | LOX/LH2 |
H-IIA (H2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The liquid-fueled H-IIA rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit, to launch a lunar orbiting spacecraft, and to launch an interplanetary space probe to Venus. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center. Production and management of the H-IIA shifted from JAXA to MHI on April 1, 2007. Flight 13, which launched the lunar orbiter SELENE, was the first H-IIA launched after this privatization.[1]
The H-IIA is a derivative of the earlier H-II rocket, substantially redesigned to improve reliability and minimize costs. There are four different variants of the H-IIA for various purposes.
The success rate of 95% of the H-2A is on a par with 96.4 percent for the Atlas V of the United States and 94.9 percent for the European Ariane 5.[2]
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The launch capability of an H-IIA launch vehicle can be enhanced by adding SRB-A (solid rocket booster or SRB) and Castor 4AXL (solid strap-on booster or SSB) to its basic configuration, creating a "family". The models are indicated by three or four numbers following the prefix "H2A". The first number in the sequence indicates the number of stages; the second the number of LRBs (Liquid rocket boosters); the third the number of SRBs; and, if present, the fourth number shows the number of SSBs.[3] The first two figures are virtually fixed at "20", as H-IIA is always two-staged, and the plans for LRBs were cancelled and superseded by the H-IIB.
As of 2007[update] there are four different configurations shown in the following table.
| Designation | Mass (tonnes) | Payload (tonnes to GTO) | Addon modules |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2A202 | 285 | 4.1 | 2 SRB-A (SRB) |
| H2A2022 (retired)[4] | 316 | 4.5 | 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 2 Castor 4AXL (SSB) |
| H2A2024 (retired) | 347 | 5 | 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 4 Castor 4AXL (SSB) |
| H2A204 | 445 | 6 | 4 SRB-A (SRB) |
| H2A212 (cancelled) | 403 | 7.5 | 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 1 LRB |
| H2A222 (cancelled) | 520 | 9.5 | 2 SRB-A (SRB) + 2 LRBs |
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.
The first launch for a mission beyond Earth orbit was on September 14, 2007 for the SELENE moon mission. The first foreign payload on the H-IIA was the Australian FedSat-1 in 2002. As of January 2011, 17 out of 18 launches were successful.
A rocket with increased launch capabilities, H-IIB, is a derivative of the H-IIA family. H-IIB uses two LE-7A engines in its first stage, as opposed to one in H-IIA. The first H-IIB was successfully launched on September 10, 2009.
| Date (UTC) | Flight | Type | Payload | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 29, 2001 07:00:00 |
TF1 | H2A202 | VEP 2 LRE |
Success | |||
| February 4, 2002 02:45:00 |
TF2 | H2A2024 | VEP 3 MDS-1 (Tsubasa) DASH |
Success | |||
| September 10, 2002 08:20:00 |
F3 | H2A2024 | USERS DRTS (Kodama) |
Success | |||
| December 14, 2002 01:31:00 |
F4 | H2A202 | ADEOS 2 (Midori 2) WEOS (Kanta-kun) FedSat 1 Micro LabSat 1 |
Success | |||
| March 28, 2003 01:27:00 |
F5 | H2A2024 | IGS-Optical 1 IGS-Radar 1 |
Success | |||
| November 29, 2003 04:33:00 |
F6 | H2A2024 | IGS-Optical (2) IGS-Radar (2) |
Failure | |||
| February 26, 2005 09:25:00 |
F7 | H2A2022 | MTSAT-1R (Himawari 6) | Success | |||
| January 24, 2006 01:33:00 |
F8 | H2A2022 | ALOS (Daichi) | Success | |||
| February 18, 2006 06:27:00 |
F9 | H2A2024 | MTSAT-2 (Himawari 7) | Success | |||
| September 11, 2006 04:35:00 |
F10 | H2A202 | IGS-Optical 2 | Success | |||
| December 18, 2006 06:32:00 |
F11 | H2A204 | ETS-VIII (Kiku 8) | Success | |||
| February 24, 2007 04:41:00 |
F12 | H2A2024 | IGS-Radar 2 IGS-Optical 3V |
Success | |||
| September 14, 2007 01:31:01 |
F13 | H2A2022 | SELENE (Kaguya) | Success | |||
| February 23, 2008 08:55:00 |
F14 | H2A2024 | WINDS (Kizuna) | Success | |||
| January 23, 2009 03:54:00 |
F15 | H2A202 | GOSAT (Ibuki) SDS-1 STARS (Kūkai) KKS-1 (Kiseki) PRISM (Hitomi) Sohla-1 (Maido 1) SORUNSAT-1 (Kagayaki) SPRITE-SAT (Raijin) |
Success[5] | |||
| November 28, 2009 01:21:00 [6] |
F16 | H2A202 | IGS-Optical 3 |
Success | |||
| May 20, 2010 21:58:22[7][8][9] |
F17 | H2A202[10] | PLANET-C (Akatsuki) IKAROS UNITEC-1 (Shin'en) Waseda-SAT2 K-Sat (Hayato) Negai☆ |
Success | |||
| September 11, 2010 11:17:00[11] |
F18 | H2A202 | QZS-1 (Michibiki) | Success | |||
| September 23, 2011 04:36:50 [12] |
F19 | H2A202 | IGS-Optical 4 | Success | |||
| December 12, 2011 01:21:00 [13] |
F20 | H2A202 | IGS-Radar 3 | Success | |||
| Planned launches | |||||||
| early 2012[14] | F21 | GCOM-W1 KOMPSAT-3 |
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