H3-22 | VEP 4, CE-SAT-1E & TIRSAT

Launch Provider & Rocket

• Provider: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Commercial)
• Rocket: H3-22 — H3 family

Mission

New test flight of the H3 ordered following the failure of the inaugural launch of H3 in March 2023 with ALOS-3. Main payload is VEP 4 (Vehicle Evaluation Payload 4), a 2.6 tonnes mass simulator payload that will be carried on the 2nd test flight of the H3 rocket, instead of the ALOS-4 Earth observation satellite as originally planned. It will be deployed after the 2nd de-orbit burn is completed to test the payload separation mechanism. 2 hitchhiking secondary payloads have been selected in June 2023: * CE-SAT-1E - 70 kilograms class optical Earth observation satellite from Canon Electronics Inc., similar to the previously launched CE-SAT-1. * TIRSAT - 3U cubesat by Japan Space Systems and other institutes to test an infrared sensor for Earth surface observation purposes.

• Type: Test Flight
• Orbit: Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO)

Launch Site

• Pad: Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2
• Location: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
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