TOKYO: Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. aims to develop its space business further, after the successful launch of the second unit of the new H3 rocket last week.

Rocket launches are seen as a promising business area as demand for satellite launches is soaring globally. Mitsubishi Heavy, which earns only about 50 billion yen annually from its space business, hopes to catch up with far-ahead U.S. and European rivals by strengthening the cost competitiveness of the business.

Mitsubishi Heavy is developing the H3 rocket, the successor to the current H-2A rocket, under the supervision of the government-affiliated Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. As with the H-2A, the company will be in charge of manufacturing and launching H3 rockets after development is completed.

JAXA launched the second unit of the H3 on Saturday from the Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The rocket reached its planned trajectory, and two small satellites carried by the vehicle were also successfully released into orbit. The successful liftoff came about a year after the failed launch of the first unit of the H3 rocket.

A focus of development for the new rocket is cost reduction. Mitsubishi Heavy aims to cut the launch cost to about 5 billion yen, about half that of the H-2A rocket. The company has reduced the number of parts by using a 3D printer while adopting inexpensive car electronic parts.

In order to lower costs, it is also necessary to raise the number of launches. Mitsubishi Heavy aims to launch six or more H3 rockets a year by increasing orders from the private sector. It has already received an order from a major U.S. satellite communications service provider.

“We want to work quickly as we’ve been asked to kick off the service early,” said Tatsuru Tokunaga, chief engineer of the company’s Space Systems Division.

“We hope to make the rocket globally competitive also by leveraging the yen’s weakness,” Senior Vice President Masayuki Eguchi said at a press conference after Saturday’s successful launch of the H3 second unit, adding that the company will increase launches to boost sales by 20 to 30 percent.

It will not be easy, however, for Mitsubishi Heavy to win more and more orders in this field. According to Tokunaga, U.S. business mogul Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is far ahead of rivals, having successfully reduced prices of its Falcon 9 rocket through the reuse of some airframe parts and the use of multiple launch sites.

U.S. aerospace manufacturer United Launch Alliance LLC and European giant Arianespace are also racing to commercialize new rockets.

JIJI Press