The world is not only becoming a communication hub of its own where every country is trying her best make sure that communication services available to citizens are modern and updated; it is also becoming more and more surveillance oriented where big brothers are watching the movements of everyone. For both services that states consider vital, satellite technology is seen as the essential component needed for the authorities assigned to perform that responsibility. As a result, almost every country in the present-day world has a strong desire of acquiring its own satellite orbiting around the globe. This is placing Satellite launching in high demand, and thus making it a profitable business of its own.

With satellite launching increasingly becoming an attractive business endeavor, the outer space too is turning out to be a new competitive field where countries are trying to make breakthrough with the aim of attracting clients willing to get their own communication and surveillance satellites orbiting the earth. The United States, Russia and the European Union had traditionally been dominating players in this business enterprise where profit margin seems to be quite lucrative. As more and more states and business enterprises are showing interest in getting satellite communication services of their own, this is paving the way for new and upcoming participants joining the competitive market with the aim of making a breakthrough by building up their own rocket launching facilities. However, the price tag for getting that work done is something not within the reach of many and hence there is still heavy dependance on traditional players in this field.

Rocket technology is at the core of satellite launching and till now only a handful of countries could successfully acquire that capability. As a result, countries willing to have their own satellites in the orbit need to depend on launching services provided by those with advance rocket technology. Japan is among few others who are trying hard to join the group and Tokyo did make significant gains in recent the recent past towards reaching the goal. However, for Japan the final target is remaining elusive till today.

Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency, known commonly as JAXA, has its own space center on Tanegashima Island in the southwestern Kagoshima prefecture of Kyushu region. JAXA had been quite successful in the recent past in rocket launching using Japan's home developed H2A rockets. H2A was introduced in 2001 and until now had 46 launches with only one failure. The success rate is no doubt encouraging, though JAXA needs to continue its effort of refining the technology for catching up with the rest. However, the technology that is in place for more than two decades is not very competitive and Japan had been developing a new version that would be able to carry higher loads with more accuracy. The new H3 rocket has been designed precisely for addressing the earlier shortcomings. It was originally scheduled for launch in March 2021. However, the main contractor of the rocket, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd encountered problems in the process of manufacturing and the first launching was delayed by two years. It was declared by JAXA earlier that H3 would not only be used for launching satellites and probes, but would also carry a new unmanned cargo transport for delivering supplies and materials to International Space Station. Moreover, it has also been intended for transporting a lunar orbiting outpost named Gateway, which would become a part of US led Artemis space program.

As a result, JAXA was placing high hope on the successful launching of Japan's next generation rocket that lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday, March 7. However, the attempt failed and the space agency had to issue a self-destruct command after concluding that the mission was bound to be a failure. It came as a major blow for JAXA and Japan's space program, and country's leading space scientists are now convinced that this will have a serious impact on Japan's future space policy, space business and technological competitiveness. The market too had an immediate impact as shares in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the builder of H3 rocket, fell nearly 2 percent.

The H3 rocket was developed for more frequent commercial launches as Japan had been eyeing on getting a fair share in the new business of satellite launching. The new rocket was also seen by the developer as a cost effective one and its reliability, as assessed by space research experts. was as closer to that of Space X program's Falcon 9 rocket. The total cost of around 5 billion yen for building the H3 rocket was roughly half the price the previous version, though the satellite launching capacity was 1.3 times higher. However, the failure came as a serious blow to JAXA and the failed launching is also denting Tokyo's hope of getting a foothold in the increasingly competitive satellite launching business.

Japan's technological advancement is seen by others as a remarkable phenomenon, as the country is already recognized as a dominant player in a range of technological innovations from motor cars to super computers. However, in one specific field where success is failing Japan is that of aeronautics and space technology. Repeated failures in these fields are puzzling as well, since country's focus on scientific advancement in recent years could ensure success in several innovative achievements. Japan had earlier abandoned its initiative to produce her own passenger jet plane for commercial use. Here too the builder company was Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Now with the second failure of the same enterprise in aerospace industry, Japan probably needs to rethink seriously how to involve others in the field, so that a competitive environment might lead to the further refinement in technological progress and avoid any future embarrassment.

(Tokyo, March 8, 2023)