Japan鈥檚 beleaguered space programme suffered a blow this Saturday when a rocket carrying two spy satellites was forced to self-destruct 10 minutes into flight. The satellites were to bolster two other instruments sent into orbit this March to keep tabs on the military machinations of neighbouring North Korea.
Japan鈥檚 space programme 鈥渋s in deep trouble鈥� says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in the US. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e had too many failures of this rocket,鈥� he says, referring to two botched launches in the late 1990s. In addition, this October Japan lost contact with its Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II), also called Midori-II, just 10 months into a three-year mission.
The most recent mishap occurred on Saturday when one of a pair of rocket boosters failed to disengage from the fuselage after the H-2A rocket launched from Tanegashima, an island about 1,000 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.
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Reportedly worth about $2 billion, Japan鈥檚 spy satellite programme was established after North Korea fired a Taepodong missile over the country in 1998. Completely unforeseen, that incident 鈥渢old Japan it better get good information on what鈥檚 going on in its region,鈥� says Logsdon. Earlier this year, tensions flared between the two countries when North Korea balked at Japan鈥檚 participation in multilateral talks about its nuclear programme.
The loss of this rocket and its satellite payload will be investigated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which was consolidated from three separate space organisations on 1 October 2003. Compared with recent strides by China, which successfully launched its first astronaut this October, Japan鈥檚 abortive H-2A rocket will 鈥渕ost certainly affect the perception of Japanese capabilities,鈥� says Logsdon. 鈥淲hen you only launch a few things each year, you can鈥檛 afford to have failures.鈥�