Japan Launches H2A / Satellite Released Successfully / DASH Communication Lost

Japan’s H2A rocket was launched on February 4 at 0245 UTC (6:45 p.m. PST February 3) from Tanegashima Space Center. The MDS 1 was successfully released 47 minutes after launch, but communications were lost with the DASH, a demonstrator of an atmospheric re-entry system. This was to be the 2^nd, and final, test flight of the H2A rocket. The launch was reported to cost $US 64 million (8.5 billion yen).

The separation of DASH had been expected about 30 minutes after launch. By late Monday, Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) determined that DASH failed to separate from the rocket's second stage. Engineers are still investigating the cause and will try to salvage the probe. At an earlier press conference Morita Yasuhiro, ISAS spokesman, had said that the DASH mission could be not completed if it stayed attached.

The US$4.5 million (600 million yen) Demonstrator of Atmospheric Re-entry System with Hyper-Velocity (DASH), was designed to measure the impact of high temperatures generated in the re-entry vehicle. DASH was to be deployed into a highly elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit. A deorbit burn was to be performed after three days. The mission's re-entry capsule was to then separate from its orbital carrier for the descent into the atmosphere at a velocity of over 10 kilometers per second. The re-entry was to end with a parachute landing in Mauritania’s Sahara Desert. Measurements were to be conducted during the re-entry, with the data transmitted to ground stations in the region during the parachuted phase of the descent. The results from the DASH experiment were to go toward the design of re-entry technology for future manned flights and for probes that enter the atmospheres of other planetary bodies.

The successfully launched US$ 43 million (5.7 billion yen) Mission Demonstration Satellite-1 (MDS 1), will check the performance of commercially available semiconductor chips. MDS 1 was released from the upper stage at 47 minutes after launch. The 480 kg (1058 lbm) satellite is to orbit the Earth for about a year testing commercial components such as microchips, batteries and solar cells.

In addition to the satellite and DASH system, the rocket was instrumented with a Vehicle Evaluation Package (VEP-3) to gather information on the vibrations and environment inside the rocket’s fairing during the launch.

National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) was planning to bring the H2A into full service in August. The H2A has 11 flights, all carrying Japanese government satellites, scheduled over the next three years. Japan may need two successful back-to-back launches before it can obtain insurance coverage for commercial missions.

($1=133.12 Yen)

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