Japan on Monday canceled the launch of a rocket carrying the SLIM lunar probe and a new X-ray space observation satellite called XRISM due to bad weather conditions.
The 47th H2A rocket, operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was not released this morning from the Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, in the southwest of the Japanese archipelago, due to the “bad weather”indicated the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The H2A rocket, 53 meters long and four meters in diameter, carries the SLIM lunar probe with which Japan intends to carry out the first landing from the country, demonstrate landing technology of precision and investigate moon rocks.
If it manages to land on the moon, Japan will be the quinto country in the world to do so, and the data obtained will be used in the international North American Artemis project, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon.
The H2A also carries a new observation satellite X-ray spacecraft, called XRISM, developed jointly with the US space agency NASA, representing an important evolution in Japan’s satellite program.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also plans, in the near future, to launch for the first time the new H3 rocket, jointly developed with JAXA, to succeed the H2A.
Last February, the H3 failed to launch its maiden flight after the supplementary thrusters failed to ignite.
Source: https://observador.pt/2023/08/28/japao-cancela-lancamento-de-foguetao-devido-ao-mau-tempo/
