On the morning of August 28, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI – a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group from Japan) announced the postponement of the H-IIA rocket launch intended to carry its lunar lander into space due to strong winds at the time of the launch.
According to the original plan, at 9:26 AM on August 28 (local time), the H-IIA rocket, manufactured by Japan, was set to lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center located on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.
H-IIA rocket on the launch pad at Tanegashima Space Center, Tanegashima Island, August 28. (Photo: Kyodo/Reuters).
This rocket is carrying the SLIM lunar lander, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The SLIM lander aims to test precise landing technology on the lunar surface. It is expected that SLIM will enter lunar orbit approximately 3 to 4 months after launch and may land on the Moon’s surface within 4 to 6 months.
In this mission, the H-IIA rocket will also carry the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, developed collaboratively by JAXA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the European Space Agency (ESA). This satellite is designed to study cosmic evolution processes. However, the mission was postponed 24 minutes before the scheduled launch time.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), MHI’s satellite launch unit specified that the reason for the launch delay was unsuitable wind conditions in the upper atmosphere.
Through a live-streaming event on YouTube, JAXA announced that MHI will provide further details later.
This launch in Japan has drawn international attention, especially following the recent achievement of another Asian country, India, which became the first nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon’s South Pole. Japan hopes to successfully conduct this launch, making it the fifth country to land on the Moon, following the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India. However, Tokyo’s efforts to assert its position in the international satellite launch and space exploration arena have been hampered recently due to several unsuccessful plans this year, including two H3 rocket launches in early March and the Epsilon-6 rocket in October 2022, both of which did not meet expectations.
