Swara Garge, Pune
Japan’s space agency postponed the launch of a rocket on Monday that would have carried the nation’s first lunar landing spacecraft due to strong winds, according to the rocket’s operator, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
Despite having a 98% success rate, the Japanese government suspended the launch 27 minutes prior to the scheduled liftoff due to unfavorable upper atmospheric wind conditions.
MHI H-IIA launch unit chief, Tatsuru Tokunaga gave a statement saying, “High-altitude winds hit our constraint for a launch… which had been set to ensure no impact from debris falling outside of pre-warned areas.”
According to Michio Kawakami, safety manager for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), strong winds of about 108 kph (67 mph) were seen at a height of 5,000–15,000 meters (16400–49200 feet). He said that there may have been many typhoons around Japan that altered the wind patterns.
The new launch date has not been set, but due to essential procedures like refueling, it won’t happen until Thursday, according to Tokunaga. According to MHI and JAXA, a launch might occur as late as September 15.
On Monday morning, the rocket was scheduled to launch from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. However, the launch had already been delayed twice due to inclement weather since last week. The launch will be the 47th H-IIA Japan has made.
The rocket is carrying JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), the nation’s first lunar landing mission. The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander from Tokyo-based firm Ispace crashed on the moon in April.
The “moon sniper” SLIM mission, according to JAXA, aims to make a high-precision landing within 100 meters of its target on the moon’s surface, which represents a significant technical advance over the traditional lunar landing accuracy of several miles.
The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a collaboration between JAXA, NASA, and the European Space Agency, is also being carried by the rocket.
The H-IIA, which JAXA and MHI jointly developed, has been Japan’s top space launch vehicle since 2001 and has been used 45 times with success. Following the failure of JAXA’s new medium-lift H3 rocket on its debut in March, the organization delayed the launch of H-IIA No. 47 for a while to look into the issue.