WHEN Japan’s new H-2A rocket lifts off next week it will be carrying a very
heavy load—the future of the nation’s space programme. After two
successive launch failures and the scrapping of the previous H-2 programme,
Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA) desperately needs a
success.
The H-2A is a cheaper version of Japan’s heavy-lifting H-2, which was
designed to launch 1-tonne satellites into geostationary orbit. NASDA hopes that
a successful launch of the H-2A will put Japan back in the commercial satellite
launching business.
But the country’s space programme has been bedevilled by failure. In November
1999 the…
