H-IIA

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Fact sheet
H-IIA
H-IIA rocket
Function	Launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Country of origin	Japan
Size
Height	53 m (173 ft)
Diameter	4 m (13.1 ft)
Mass	285,000 kg (628,000 lb)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to LEO	202: 10,000 kg 2024: 11,730 kg (202: 22,000 lb 2024: 25,860 lb)
Payload to GTO	202: 4,100 kg 2024: 5000 kg (202: 9,000 lb 2024: 11,000 lb)
Launch History
Status	Active
Launch sites	LC-Y, Tanegashima
Total launches	13 (202: 3, 204: 1, 2022: 3 , 2024: 6)
Successes	12 (202: 3, 204: 1, 2022: 3 , 2024: 5)
Failures	1 (2024)
Maiden flight	202: 29 August 2001 204: 18 December 2006 2022: 26 February 2005 2024: 4 February 2002
Boosters (H-IIA 2022/2024) - Castor 4AXL
N^o boosters	2 - 4
Engines	1 Solid
Thrust	745 kN
Specific impulse	283 sec
Burn time	60 seconds
Fuel	Solid
Boosters (All Variants) - SRB-A
N^o boosters	2 - 4
Engines	1 Solid
Thrust	(2,250 kN)
Specific impulse	280 sec
Burn time	120 seconds
Fuel	Solid
First Stage
Engines	1 LE-7A
Thrust	1,098 kN (246,840 lb_f)
Specific impulse	440 sec
Burn time	390 seconds
Fuel	LOX/LH2
Second Stage
Engines	1 LE-5B
Thrust	137 kN (30,798 lb_f)
Specific impulse	447 sec
Burn time	534 seconds
Fuel	LOX/LH2

The H-IIA (H2A) is a family of liquid-fuelled rockets providing an expendable launch system for the purpose of launching satellites into geostationary orbit. It is manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center. On April 1, 2007, production and management of the H-IIA was shifted from JAXA to MHI. Flight 13 launching the lunar orbiter SELENE, was the first H-IIA launched after this privatization.^[1]

The H-IIA is a derivative of the earlier H-II rocket, though has been substantially redesigned to improve reliability and minimize costs, after the H-II proved to be expensive and failure-prone. There are four different variants of the H-IIA for various purposes.

1 History
2 Vehicle lineup
3 H-IIA flights
4 References
5 External links

Liftoff of H-IIA Flight 11

The H-IIA was first launched on August 29, 2001, and the sixth launch on November 29, 2003 failed. The rocket was intended to launch two reconnaissance satellites to observe North Korea^{[citation needed]}. JAXA announced that launches would resume in 2005, and indeed the first successful flight took place on February 26 with the launch of MTSAT-1R.

The first launch for a mission beyond Earth orbit was on September 14, 2007 for the SELENE moon mission.

As of September 2007, 12 out of 13 launches were successful.

A rocket with increased launch capabilities, H-IIB, is a derivative of the H-IIA family. H-IIB uses two LE-7A engines in its first stage, as opposed to one in H-IIA. The first H-IIB is planned to fly in 2009.

The launch capability of an H-IIA launch vehicle can be enhanced by adding SSBs (solid strap-on boosters) and other boosters to its basic configuration, creating a "family". The models are indicated by three or four numbers following the prefix "H2A". The first number in the sequence indicates the number of stages; the second the number of LRBs (liquid rocket boosters); the third the number of SRBs (solid rocket boosters); and, if present, the fourth number shows the number of SSBs.^[2] The first two figures are virtually fixed at "20", as H-IIA is always two-staged, and the plans for LRBs were cancelled and superseded by the H-IIB. As of 2007 there are four different configurations shown in the following table.

Designation	Mass (tonnes)	Payload (tonnes to GTO)	Addon modules
H2A202	285	4	2 Solid rocket boosters (SRBs)
H2A2022	316	4.5	2 SRBs + 2 Solid strap-on Boosters (SSBs)
H2A2024	347	5	2 SRBs + 4 SSBs
H2A204	445	6	4 SRBs
H2A212 (cancelled)	403	7.5	2 SRBs + 1 Liquid rocket booster (LRB)
H2A222 (cancelled)	520	9.5	2 SRBs + 2 LRBs

Date (UTC)	Flight	Model	Payload	Result
August 29, 2001 07:00:00	TF1	H2A202	VEP 2 LRE	Success
February 4, 2002 02:45:00	TF2	H2A2024	VEP 3 MDS-1 (Tsubasa) DASH	Success
September 10, 2002 08:20:00	F3	H2A2024	USERS DRTS (Kodama)	Success
December 14, 2002 01:31:00	F4	H2A202	ADEOS 2 (Midori 2) WEOS (Kanta-kun) FedSat 1 Micro LabSat 1	Success
March 28, 2003 01:27:00	F5	H2A2024	IGS-Optical 1 IGS-Radar 1	Success
November 29, 2003 04:33:00	F6	H2A2024	IGS-Optical 2 IGS-Radar 2	Failure
February 26, 2005 09:25:00	F7	H2A2022	MTSat-1R (Himawari 6)	Success
January 24, 2006 01:33:00	F8	H2A2022	ALOS (Daichi)	Success
February 18, 2006 06:27:00	F9	H2A2024	MTSat-2 (Himawari 7)	Success
September 11, 2006 04:35:00	F10	H2A202	IGS-Optical 3	Success
December 18, 2006 06:32:00	F11	H2A204	ETS-VIII (Kiku 8)	Success
February 24, 2007 04:41:00	F12	H2A2024	IGS-Radar 3 IGS-Optical 4	Success
September 14, 2007 01:31:01	F13	H2A2022	SELENE (Kaguya)	Success
February 15, 2008 XX:XX:XX	F14	H2A2024	WINDS (Kizuna)	Planned