Japan delays rocket launch due to technical trouble

gameboy

Japan's space agency had to postpone the launch of its latest rocket Monday due to last-minute technical problems, officials said. The launch was rescheduled for Tuesday.

The launch of the Japanese-developed H-2A rocket, carrying a 4-ton observation satellite, was rescheduled because of trouble with sensing equipment, Japan's space agency JAXA said in a statement. The launch, from the remote island of Tanegashima in southern Japan, was postponed twice already because of a separate glitch and bad weather.

The Advanced Land Observation Satellite, nicknamed Daichi, is carrying three earth sensors that can obtain terrain data for maps and make all-weather observations of the Asia-Pacific region.

The H-2A rocket, the backbone of the Japanese space program, was last launched successfully in February 2005. In November 2003, an H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned and was destroyed in mid-flight.

The launch is to be the eighth for an H-2A, a two-stage launch vehicle.

The rocket had five successful flights in a row after its first in August 2001.

Source: AP

Only he who does nothing, does nothing wrong.

jphili

After repeated delays, a Japanese H-2A rocket lifted off from its launchpad Tuesday carrying a four-ton observation satellite.

The launch of the Japanese-developed H-2A from the remote island of Tanegashima in southern Japan had to be rescheduled three times because of trouble with sensing equipment and bad weather.
But on Tuesday the black-and-orange rocket blasted off into a clear sky, carrying the Advanced Land Observation Satellite. The probe which has three earth sensors that can obtain terrain data for maps and make all-weather observations of the Asia-Pacific region.
Success will clear the way for the launching of two spy satellites by March 2007 to monitor North Korea and other trouble spots.
That program, approved after North Korea launched a missile over Japan's main island in 1998, began with the liftoff of two spy satellites in March 2003. Tokyo put aside $2 billion for the project, prompting protests from North Korea that Tokyo was triggering a regional arms race.


Source: AP

gameboy

A computer glitch partially shut down a Japanese satellite that launched earlier this week, a space agency spokesman said today.

In the latest problem with Japan’s star-crossed space programme, the four-tonne Advanced Land Observation Satellite reported an error yesterday in the system that processes the observation data it collected, Japan Space and Exploration Agency spokesman Tatsuo Oshima said.

The satellite was switched into “safe mode” – a hold state – while agency officials reviewed the error-detection data, Oshima said.

“We don’t think the problem will turn out to be something that cannot be repaired,” he said, adding that the agency at present did not believe the glitch would have a long-term effect on the satellite’s mission.

The satellite has three earth sensors that can obtain terrain data for maps and make weather observations of the Asia-Pacific region.

Its successful lift-off on Tuesday came after repeated delays due to bad weather and problems with sensing equipment.

Japan – which put its first satellite in orbit in 1972 – has experienced a number of problems in its space programme of late.

Most recently, the space agency announced last month it would delay until 2010 the return of a problem-plagued probe sent to collect samples from an asteroid because a thruster problem put the vehicle into an unexpected spin.

The Hayabusa probe was originally scheduled to return to Earth in June 2007.

Source: IOL

Only he who does nothing, does nothing wrong.