Mitsubishi's H-IIA rocket ready to carry Japan's first moon lander

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said on Monday it planned to launch its H-IIA rocket carrying a moon lander on Thursday morning.
The logo of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is seen at the company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan December 8, 2022.
The logo of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is seen at the company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan December 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/file photo
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said on Monday it planned to launch its H-IIA rocket carrying a moon lander on Thursday morning, after unfavourable wind conditions led to a postponement last month.

The rocket is scheduled to take off from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan at 8:42 a.m. JST (Wednesday 2342 GMT), with a launch window open until Sept. 15, the company said.

The new schedule was announced a week after the previous launch attempt, which would have carried Japan's first spacecraft to land on the moon, was suspended because of high winds.

H-IIA, jointly developed by JAXA and MHI, has been Japan'sflagship space launch vehicle, with 45 successful launches in 46tries since 2001. After JAXA's new medium-lift H3rocket failed on its debut in March, the agency postponed thelaunch of H-IIA No. 47 for several months to investigate thecause.

Hoping to help accelerate Japan's aerospace development initiatives, Japan may subsidize JAXA with about 10 billion yen ($68.4 million) in fiscal 2024, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Monday.

JAXA will use this subsidy to pay companies and universities involved in the development of satellites, rockets, and lunar-exploration technologies, the report said.

($1 = 146.1300 yen)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Gerry Doyle)

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