JAXA’s launch of ALOS-3 fails due to second-stage engine malfunction

On March 7, 2023, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the H3 TF1 carrying the Advanced Land Observing Satellite “DAICHI-3” (ALOS-3) from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Centre. Unfortunately, during the launch, the second-stage engine failed to ignite, which prevented the satellite from entering Earth’s orbit as planned.

During the live broadcast of the ALOS-3 launch, the Geoimage team’s excitement turned into apprehension when the live feed quickly switched to a wide shot of the launch site with a message stating they were checking the status of the mission.

Japan’s first new rocket model in thirty years, the 57-meter (187 ft) H3 rocket, encountered a setback when its second-stage engine failed to ignite after a successful launch from Tanegashima. The malfunction prompted mission officials to manually terminate the rocket, preventing it from completing its mission.

“A destruct command has been transmitted to H3 around 10:52 a.m. (Japan Standard Time), because there was no possibility of achieving the mission,” JAXA said in an official statement.

The General Manager of Geoimage, Mark Covington, reflected on the situation, “Launching heavy payloads into orbit remains an ambitious aim with some recent setbacks occurring that remind us of the complexity involved in this endeavour. There is no doubt, however, that JAXA will find the necessary answers and ultimately succeed. We wish them all the best.”

JAXA has established a special task force led by President Hiroshi Yamakawa to investigate the cause of the failure and is committed to finding out what went wrong and taking the necessary measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

You can read the official press release from JAXA here.