Watch Japan launch military communications satellite early Nov. 4 on 4th flight of H3 rocket
Japan’s new H3 rocket is set to fly for the fourth time ever on Monday morning (Nov. 4).
The H3 is scheduled to launch Kirameki 3, a military communications satellite also known as DSN-3, from Tanegashima Space Center on Monday at 1:48 a.m. EST (0548 GMT; 3:48 p.m. local Japan time).
You can watch the launch live here at Space.com, courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Coverage will begin at 1:20 a.m. EST (0520 GMT).
The two-stage H3 is Japan’s new workhorse medium-lift rocket, the successor to the H-2A, which is about to retire after more than two decades of service. The H-2A has just one mission left, and it’s expected to lift off before the end of the year.
The H3, which was developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, debuted in March 2023, about three years later than originally planned.
That first launch failed, resulting in the loss of the payload — the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3, also known as DAICHI-3).
Related: Japan’s new H3 rocket fails on 1st test flight, advanced Earth observation satellite lost
The rocket’s next two flights were successful, however. This past February, the H3 carried a 5,900-pound (2,600 kilograms) mass simulator to orbit and also successfully deployed two small Earth-observation satellites.
Then, on June 30, the rocket delivered the ALOS-4, or DAICHI-4, Earth-observation satellite to low Earth orbit as planned.
Monday morning’s launch is targeting a more distant destination — geostationary orbit, which lies 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth. At this altitude, satellites complete one orbit in exactly one Earth day, meaning that satellites in geo “hover” over the same patch of the planet continuously.
According to NextSpaceflight.com, Kirameki 3 will be operated by DSN Corporation and “will be used for military communications by the Japanese military.” The satellite will communicate in the X band, part of the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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