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JAXA (& other Japanese) Launch and Discussion Thread

tater

By tater
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YNM

YNM

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Posted (edited)

The first stage (and second stage, following the first stage trailer) have safely arrived on Tanegashima Space Center earlier this morning, at 31st Jan at ~8 AM.

Article from NHK. (google-translated)

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YNM

YNM

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  On 1/31/2021 at 7:19 PM, Scotius said:

I hope hardware inside is intact.

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It was more like a gentle leaning over, probably due to the dolly configuration when it traversed the corner. I'll guess that the stage inside isn't exactly solid with the container, given sea transport and all that.

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YNM

YNM

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Everyone be pursuing reusable first stage now... Although I wonder about the timeline given that'd mean that H3 has only like a decade of use.

 

I think the airplane thing isn't completely new however. They've been researching quiet SST and hypersonic airplane as well, so it probably would come in handy.

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SunlitZelkova

SunlitZelkova

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Is this a serious proposal?

The spacecraft in the pictures are purely for reference. The tweet it is in says "they are dreaming to much" or something to that effect.

 

I used Google Translate combined with my limited Japanese skills, so it may be inaccurate, but it looks like-

They are proposing a NASA Integrated Program Plan style system for space transportation. Basically similar to the original Space Transportation System (that is, the STS that ended up being only the Space Shuttle) proposal.

Space tourism, transport to the Lunar Gateway (which in the future will have spacecraft to take stuff/people to Mars docked to it), transport to a post-ISS space station, P2P, and use in the construction of a space based solar power network would be the missions of this system.

The spacecraft concepts under study are Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy style rockets, a Starship equivalent, and an SSTO or TSTO.

The private sector is supposed to cooperate to reduce costs. I am not sure whether international participation is considered, because theoretically, there is nothing stopping Japan from paying SpaceX to do all of this in the future.

The missions they propose are ones they think will exist by 2040 and thus the spacecraft would to be developed by then, no earlier, although if they use the Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy rocket, its first flight will be in the 2030s.

The latter parts of the PDF describe the technical aspects of either the TSTO or the Falcon 9 style rocket, while the very last page might be about cost reduction but I'm not sure.

 

Separately from this, I have a number of questions (for anybody to answer)-

1. What are Japan's plans for after the ISS? It's Wikipedia so I'm not sure how accurate it is, but apparently there is an idea to build a space station with modules based on the HTV, similar to how Russian space station modules are based on the FGB.

2. Although it may not even be a JAXA proposal, if they went through with the HTV based space station would it be possible to lower the cost by using SpaceX to resupply it and send crews to it, with Japan only building the modules?

Of course they could also just keep Kibo attached to it, because the ISS looks like it could become a private space station with much of it being replaced by Axiom modules.

3. I have seen English sources saying Japan had completely indigenous plans to send people to the Moon, that were shelved around the early 2010s. I am wondering if any documents are out there describing the way the mission would work.

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YNM

YNM

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  On 3/6/2021 at 7:13 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

1. What are Japan's plans for after the ISS?

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Artemis. They don't have enough money to try and build their own station anyway, but they're more than willing to spend money on developing technology that'd benefit them back on the ground. Right now the largest problem is the population decline so there's a large drive to automate everything - remote space activities are one of the few things that align with this (and if you notice they've been doing exactly that).

  On 3/6/2021 at 7:13 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

if they went through with the HTV based space station would it be possible to lower the cost by using SpaceX to resupply it and send crews to it, with Japan only building the modules?

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Same with above.

  On 3/6/2021 at 7:13 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

3. I have seen English sources saying Japan had completely indigenous plans to send people to the Moon, that were shelved around the early 2010s.

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They don't have the funds - or the willingness to fund - anymore, esp. post 3.11, and they don't have the personnel.

tl;dr Japanese manned space program would have to rely on other manned space program really. It make no sense for them to send their populace anywhere else as it's dwindling back on Earth. The unmanned robotic ones however has largely been extremely innovative and groundbreaking, esp. considering the relatively small budget. Private ventures is one aspect that the government is trying to foster, but I'd argue if they were interested from the start they'd have jumped on the ship already, ie. Maezawa and dearMoon.

EDIT : Found this document that actually gives the timeline of all the projects in JAXA's planning that has already been fixed.

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In other news, HTV-X is progressing nicely :

 

Edited by YNM
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YNM

YNM

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They were doing upper stage cryo test two days ago, and today they were planning to do the first stage cryo test, however they were caught in a rain so it's most likely not going to be done today.

EDIT : Video from Asahi Shimbun of the rollout :

Test was completed on March 18 ~01:00 JST (UTC +9), but a second test is planned; however the second test cannot be carried out and so far the rocket has been rolled back into the VAB.

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YNM

YNM

Posted
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  On 5/4/2021 at 5:05 PM, kerbalxploder said:

When do you think the H3 will launch?

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Not sure, but probably mid-year or after, but probably not too close to the last quarter of the year for good reasons (wouldn't want to launch in a typhoon season I suppose). If they slip past that then it wouldn't be surprising for it to be well into the end of the year.

 

The last few further updates :

Removal of one of the engines to replace the turbopump :

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Electromagnetic compatibility testing :

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Pipcard

Pipcard

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 3/6/2021 at 7:13 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

3. I have seen English sources saying Japan had completely indigenous plans to send people to the Moon, that were shelved around the early 2010s. I am wondering if any documents are out there describing the way the mission would work.

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This was the plan from 2008 and 2009. It would have involved a total of six launches of a triple-core H-X (H3) rocket carrying the lunar lander and two Earth Departure Stages, and the crew transfer vehicle and two more Earth Departure Stages.

http://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2008-k-63.pdf

http://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2009-k-36.pdf

In fact, I recreated it in KSP Real Solar System a few years ago.

6HpIfQ1.png

LBlkaZO.png

4W8n5jh.png

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YNM

YNM

Posted
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  On 5/12/2021 at 3:15 AM, Pipcard said:

It would have involved a total of six launches of a triple-core H-X (H3) rocket carrying the lunar lander and two Earth Departure Stages, and the crew transfer vehicle and two more Earth Departure Stages.

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The two EDS is interesting. Wonder if that means HTV-X to Gateway will also do something similar, or if they have a much more powerful upper stage in the design stage or such. To be fair with NRHO you can use the less dV intensive transfers as well.

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YNM

YNM

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Short article about the HTV re-entry capsule, which used vacuum insulation for long-term passive climate control (throughout the pre-reentry, re-entry and post-reentry period) :

 

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YNM

YNM

Posted
Posted
  On 5/22/2021 at 12:43 AM, SpaceFace545 said:

What’s it called? 

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No idea yet. I think they're partly asking the Japanese populace (well, probably those who have worked within STEM fields) for ideas for future space transportation.

This two slide might be the most interesting part for the reusability idea :

unknown.png

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