Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced on November 13, local time, that it will launch H2A Rocket Unit 48 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on January 11, 2024.The H2A rocket is a Japanese large-scale rocket jointly developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was first launched in 2001.
The rocket experienced three launch failures in August this year. It was originally planned to launch on August 26, but was postponed three times due to various reasons, and finally launched on September 7.
The H2A rocket at that time sent the lunar probe "SLIM" into space, which would be Japan's first probe to land on the lunar surface.
SLIM plans to soft-land on the moon in January or February next year. If it successfully achieves its goal, Japan will become the fifth country/organization after India to explore the lunar surface.
It is reported that the SLIM detector also hides the SORA-Q miniature lunar exploration robot jointly developed by JAXA and toy manufacturer TOMY. It is shaped like a sphere and is equipped with a small camera that can transmit the captured images to the earth.
Interestingly, Japan had previously failed to successfully launch a rocket for more than a year.When Japan's H3 carrier rocket failed to launch, local experts blamed my country, saying that it might have been "interferenced with thoughts" by my country.
He also emphasized that China, the United States and Russia all have their own superpowers, and Japan should also form a "superpower force" as soon as possible. This comment aroused ridicule from netizens.