About a quarter of Japan's space engineers—those who have had the most experience developing the H-II series and its predecessors—will retire by 2020, Asada said at the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition here last week. By 2020, an engineer who was 25 in the mid-1980s, during early work on the original H-II rocket, will be around 60.
Japanese Government Recommends Developing H-2A SuccessorA high-level Japanese government panel has tentatively recommended proceeding with development of a lower-cost, commercially viable successor to the nation’s workhorse H-2A rocket.The recommendation to develop the so-called H-3 rocket was handed down May 17 in a draft midterm report by the Space Transportation Systems Subcommittee of Japan’s Cabinet-level Office of National Space Policy (ONSP).H-2A prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Tokyo proposed a two-stage “New Concept Rocket” with a liquid-fueled core stage and solid-rocket strap-on motors that would be available commercially by 2020 at half the price of an H-2A
Kicking off this update thread for H-3 as there is now an official advise from the Japanese government:http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/35499japanese-government-recommends-developing-h-2a-successor#.UaXk7di3kZYQuoteJapanese Government Recommends Developing H-2A SuccessorA high-level Japanese government panel has tentatively recommended proceeding with development of a lower-cost, commercially viable successor to the nation’s workhorse H-2A rocket.The recommendation to develop the so-called H-3 rocket was handed down May 17 in a draft midterm report by the Space Transportation Systems Subcommittee of Japan’s Cabinet-level Office of National Space Policy (ONSP).H-2A prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Tokyo proposed a two-stage “New Concept Rocket” with a liquid-fueled core stage and solid-rocket strap-on motors that would be available commercially by 2020 at half the price of an H-2ANote: the H-X thread and the H-3 development thread were merged into one as both handle the same subject: the proposed H-IIA successor.
Quote from: woods170 on 05/29/2013 11:27 amKicking off this update thread for H-3 as there is now an official advise from the Japanese government:http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/35499japanese-government-recommends-developing-h-2a-successor#.UaXk7di3kZYQuoteJapanese Government Recommends Developing H-2A SuccessorA high-level Japanese government panel has tentatively recommended proceeding with development of a lower-cost, commercially viable successor to the nation’s workhorse H-2A rocket.The recommendation to develop the so-called H-3 rocket was handed down May 17 in a draft midterm report by the Space Transportation Systems Subcommittee of Japan’s Cabinet-level Office of National Space Policy (ONSP).H-2A prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Tokyo proposed a two-stage “New Concept Rocket” with a liquid-fueled core stage and solid-rocket strap-on motors that would be available commercially by 2020 at half the price of an H-2ANote: the H-X thread and the H-3 development thread were merged into one as both handle the same subject: the proposed H-IIA successor. "at half the price of an H-2A" this is an impressive goal. Can't wait to see how this is done.
Quote from: Prober on 05/29/2013 02:11 pmQuote from: woods170 on 05/29/2013 11:27 amKicking off this update thread for H-3 as there is now an official advise from the Japanese government:http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/35499japanese-government-recommends-developing-h-2a-successor#.UaXk7di3kZYQuoteJapanese Government Recommends Developing H-2A SuccessorA high-level Japanese government panel has tentatively recommended proceeding with development of a lower-cost, commercially viable successor to the nation’s workhorse H-2A rocket.The recommendation to develop the so-called H-3 rocket was handed down May 17 in a draft midterm report by the Space Transportation Systems Subcommittee of Japan’s Cabinet-level Office of National Space Policy (ONSP).H-2A prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Tokyo proposed a two-stage “New Concept Rocket” with a liquid-fueled core stage and solid-rocket strap-on motors that would be available commercially by 2020 at half the price of an H-2ANote: the H-X thread and the H-3 development thread were merged into one as both handle the same subject: the proposed H-IIA successor. "at half the price of an H-2A" this is an impressive goal. Can't wait to see how this is done.Won't become a reality. CNES recently said something very similar about Ariane 6. Won't happen either. (the "half the price" bit I mean)
Quote from: woods170 on 05/29/2013 05:40 pmQuote from: Prober on 05/29/2013 02:11 pmQuote from: woods170 on 05/29/2013 11:27 amKicking off this update thread for H-3 as there is now an official advise from the Japanese government:http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/35499japanese-government-recommends-developing-h-2a-successor#.UaXk7di3kZYQuoteJapanese Government Recommends Developing H-2A SuccessorA high-level Japanese government panel has tentatively recommended proceeding with development of a lower-cost, commercially viable successor to the nation’s workhorse H-2A rocket.The recommendation to develop the so-called H-3 rocket was handed down May 17 in a draft midterm report by the Space Transportation Systems Subcommittee of Japan’s Cabinet-level Office of National Space Policy (ONSP).H-2A prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Tokyo proposed a two-stage “New Concept Rocket” with a liquid-fueled core stage and solid-rocket strap-on motors that would be available commercially by 2020 at half the price of an H-2ANote: the H-X thread and the H-3 development thread were merged into one as both handle the same subject: the proposed H-IIA successor. "at half the price of an H-2A" this is an impressive goal. Can't wait to see how this is done.Won't become a reality. CNES recently said something very similar about Ariane 6. Won't happen either. (the "half the price" bit I mean) Any cost savings at this time are like a must, so I wish them well in the project. Also hope the USA still has some ties to JAXA and can get these cost savings ideas/designs transferred to Delta. You missed something I hope wasn't a translation issue. It said "commercial" in that statement. As you know most of the current launches are for JAXA.
More on Japan's proposed H-X:http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1/Japan/H-X/Description/Text.htmhttp://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2011-a-21.pdfhttp://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2009-a-04.pdf
Latest study material.H-3 family launch capability (upside) and H-2A/H-2B launch capability illustration.
...but I still don't see the commercial competitiveness.
Quote from: edkyle99 on 03/07/2014 01:25 pm...but I still don't see the commercial competitiveness.It seems to be a rocket optimized for institutional missions. I don't know why JAXA should get into the comsat business, IMO the market cannot support that many players. It probably barely pays off for ESA with 50%+ market share.