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Modern rockets have 100,000 copies. In the case of only one of these malfunctions, the entire rocket may break down. This was in March 2023, when the Japanese National Space Organization (JAXA) was forced to shorten the first release of a new flagship H3 rocket in Japan.
It was a bitter set for Mitsubishi Heavy (MHI), our customers and partner Jacksa. We jointly developed this new launch car.
However, after almost a year of forensic surveys, evaluation, and testing, they changed some components, achieved their “return to flight” status, and fired H3 normally in February 2024. Since then, two more smooth firing has been implemented, and H3 has been completely working. And I claim that we have learned important new lessons and strengthened their relationships with Jacksa and other partners by facing this failure honestly and openly.
The timing is auspicious. Space is a business that grows for MHI. To put it simply, there are more satellites waiting for launch than a rocket that can be sent to track. Demand is promoted by new applications such as autonomous operation, more sophisticated mapping and monitoring, and increased appetite for the needs of space exploration and defense. More and more countries consider the space to understand and control the space as much as land, the sea, and air.
Rocket science
This is a major satellite operator, from Legashite Telecom companies to startups such as Elon Musk’s Starlink, upgrades and expansion of satellite networks. According to Morgan Stanley’s estimation, the space release service market has been set to grow rapidly as the global space industry expands to more than $ 1 trillion by 2040.
MHI has been involved in Japan’s space exploration initiatives since the beginning, has built a talent in the development of aircraft and engines, and has been a leader in rocket technology for many years. In 2007, the government officially took over the operation of H-IIA.
The way to work is that JAXA will directly fund the development of MHI’s new rocket model, design, manufacture, and test. Since then, MHI is a foreign government like the United Arab Emirates, or from a private operator such as Telesat and Inmarsat (now Viasat), and now one of the H3 EutelSat, to an individual launch agreement from the Japanese government. I have secured.
Each contract has a customized rocket construction to carry a specific payload, and a comprehensive launch service for Jacksa to manage the overall flight safety using Jacksa sites on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan. I cover it.
Since 2001, the 58th release of the H-IIA/H-IIB rocket has a 98 % success rate and 80 %, and the reliability evaluation (released within one week from the original date) This is competitive. It is greatly ahead of.
The new H3 devised in 2014 will be built based on its success. You can carry a larger and heavier payload with a stronger engine. At the same time, it is cheaper to build and customize to reduce the number of components by using the latest design and manufacturing technology, including 3D molding and automation.
There is no simple meaning -the main structure is held together by 30,000 rivets -but that means that we can half the time from order to launch. More in the future.
Of course, our friends are not standing. The fact that MUSK’s SpaceX has pioneered reusable Falcon Rocket has really surprising us, but we are working to catch up by changing H3 into a reusable rocket by the 2030s. On the other hand, aggressive customer feedback and growing orders suggest that existing H3 is an attractive and competitive product in the current market.
Moon and beyond it
MHI, on the other hand, is built and fired through a rocket, built an HTV (and future HTV-X) transfer vehicles that ferry the cargo to the International Space Station. And we are participating in the development of Gateway, a manned space station that goes around the moon. To explore the surface of the moon, like an inhabitant and unmanned rover. Finally, we are interested in building a complex business park in the track of the low earth.
Regarding revenue, the space category is a relatively small part of MHI. But I believe it contributes to the group by increasing the name and value of the brand. Think of the first hydrogen used by a rocket engine by developing the technology to find applications elsewhere in the group. In addition, by exhausting the high design and manufacturing standards throughout MHI, the resistance to disability is zero.
The most important thing is to work in space, and that MHI and their senior executives have to expand their thoughts. It is necessary to consider the way to eliminate the increase in the fragments of the universe, which is contributed by the launch of each rocket, and how to use space as a common resource. But we also imagine the future where men can live safely in the moon, Mars, and ultimately in the stars. When working in space, it is part of the job to think deeply about the future of mankind.
