NASDA vehicles

by Jean-Jacques Serra
listing by Gunter Krebs
The NASDA (National Space Development Agency) was founded in October 1969 by the japanese Space Activity Commission to replace the NSDC (National Space Development Center) created in 1964. The NASDA's mission was to bring the application satellite programs to life and to develop launcher capable of orbiting them.

Three sounding rockets were already used by the NASDA for technological tests. Those were the single stage SB solid fuel rocket of 70 kg, the 2-stage 2.3 tons JCR solid fuel rocket and the 2-stage 2.5 tons LSC which was the only Japanese launcher with liquid propellant. The experience gained in the development of the second stage (stockable propellant) will later be used for the LE-3 motor of the N1.

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N1 launchers

The N1 was not a Japan made rocket but a Thor-Delta rocket built under licence which second stage had been designed in Japan.

The first stage was a Long Tank Thor of 2.44 m diameter built by Mitsubishi Heavy Indutries (MHI) under McDonnell Douglas licence. It was powered by a 765 kN MB-3 motor (liquid oxygen and kerosene) built by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) under licence Rocketdyne. This first stage was on during 219 seconds with the help of 3 Castor -2 boosters designed by Nissan under Thiokol licence. The second N1 stage was built by MHI with a TRW licence for the verniers. It was 5.44 m long for 1.62 m diameter and weighed 5.8 tons. It was propulsed by a Japanese LE-3 motor (nitrogen tetraoxide and Aerozine 50) which provided 53 kN (ISp = 285 s) in vacuum during 250 seconds. The solid fuel third stage used the Thiokol TEM-364-14 (Star-37N) propulsor capable of 39 kN during 41 seconds. The launcher was radiocontrolled, the guidance and piloting device was built by Nippon Electric Co Ltd, also under licence.

The complete vehicle was then 90.4 tons for 32.6 m high. It provided 1485 kN at takeoff and could orbit 130 kg in GEO.

The N1 launcher enabled to launch between 1975 and 1982 three technological satellites ( Kiku 1, Kiku 2 and Kiku 4, one in GEO) and two scientific satellites ( Ume 1 and Ume 2). Two other launchers ended as failures with telecommunication satellites ( Ayame 1 and Ayame 2) because of the Aerojet apogee stage.

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N2 launchers

First launched in 1981 the N2 rocket was a enhancement of the N1 entirely built under US licence. Even though equiped with the same motor, the new first stage had enlarged tanks (23% more fuel) which enabled 269 seconds burns. Moreover it was assisted by 9 Castor -2 boosters (6 fired at takeoff and the 3 remaining at shutdown of the latters) instead of 3.

The second stage used the AJ-10-118FJ motor built by IHI under Aerojet General licence. The re-ignitable motor herited from the Delta used NTO-Ax50 (Aerozine 50) as propellant and thus provided 48.3 kN (ISp = 314 s) with a total uptime of 420 seconds. The Delta inertial guidance system was installed at the top of the second stage. The third stage was the TEM-364-4 (Star-37E) capable of providing 67 kN thrust during 44 seconds, built by Nissan under Thiokol licence. N2 was 134.7 tons for 35.4 m high and developped a 2150 kN at takeoff. It could place 350 kg in GEO or 1.6 tons in 1000 km circular orbit. It was in fact some kind of clone of the Delta Straight-Eight (constant diameter of 2.44 m). It was fired 8 times between Feb 1981 and Feb 1987 to launch:
- 1 technological satellite: Kiku 3
- 2 meteorological satellites: Himawari 2 & Himawari 3
- 4 telecommunication satellites: Sakura 2s and Yuri 2s
- an ocean observation satellite: Momo 1A

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H1 launchers

In the mid-1970 Japan carried out researches to build a launcher more powerful than the N series with a top stage using cryogenic propulsion built in Japan. The first launcher of this new series was H1. It reused the first stage, the boosters and the cap of N2 while the 2nd and 3rd stage were developped in Japan (without US assistance) together with the ISAS and the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL). The second stage used the LE-5, a cryogenic re-ignatable motor (liquid oxygen and hydrogren) built by MHI, IHI and NAL. It provided a 103 kN thrust (ISp = 448 s) during about 400 seconds. The stage (dry) weighed 1.1 tons and carried 8.7 tons propellant. The third stage designed by Nissan was made of a powder bloc (HTPB) of about 2 tons. It could provide a mean thrust of 92 kN (ISp = 291 s) during 62 seconds.

H1 was 138 tons and 40 m high. It could deliver 550 kg in GEO and 2.2 tons in circular 1000 km orbit (two-stage version). It was used 9 times between 1986 and 1992 for:
- a geodesy satellite: Ajisai with a HAM radio satellite: Fuji
- a technological satellite: Kiku 5
- a meteorology satellite: Himawari 4
- 4 telecommunication satellites: Sakura 3s and Yuri 3s
- an ocean observation satellite: Momo 1b
- a remote sensing satellite: Fuyo 1

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H2 launchers

The Japanese Space Activity Commission (SAC) decided in 1984 not to enhance the H1 as planned but to develop an new launcher called H2. This H2 is a modern rocket with combined propulsion (two large solid boosters and a cryogenic main motor) entirely designed in Japan.

Each booster is 23.4 m is height, 1.81 m in diameter and weighs 70.4 tons including 60 tons powder (HTPB; ISp = 273 s) providing 1540 kN thrust during 94 seconds. The main body of 4 m diameter up to the cap has 2 stages. The first stage of 28 m heigh weighs 98.1 tons. It features a liquid oxygen and hydrogen LE-7 motor of 843 kN at ground level (1078 kN in vaccum; ISp = 446 s). The second stage weighs 19.7 tons for 10.6 m high and makes use of an enhanced version of LE-5A, the second stage motor of the H1. It provides 121.5 kN thrust (ISp = 452 s) during 610 seconds in two burns. MHI, the integrator of the launcher, also builds the cryogenic motors while Nissan provides the solid boosters.

H2 is nearly 50 m high and weighs 264 tons at takeoff. It can launch 4 tons in GTO, 5 to 6 tons in sun-synchronous orbit and 10 tons in LEO like for example the unmanned HOPE shuttle.

The H2A series have numerous variant planned. The 202 version has two strap-on SRB-A solid boosters, shorter and fatter than the SRBs used on the old H-2 rocket. The core stages are uprated versions of the H-2 core, with the same 4.0 meter diameter and a larger propellant load. Both stages use uprated Mitsubishi liquid hydrogen/ liquid oxygen engines. A retirement date of 2023 has been announced for H2A.

The H2B is a 2-stage rocket using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellant and has four strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRB-A) powered by polibutadiene. The first stage is made of two liquid rocket engines (LE-7A) in the first-stage, instead of one for the H2A. It has four SRB-As attached to the body, while the standard version of H2A had two SRB-As. In addition, the H2B's first-stage body was expanded to 5.2 m in diameter from 4 m of H2A's one. The total length of the first stage has been extended by 1 m from that of H2A. Compared to the H2A, the H2B payload capacity to GTO has roughly been doubled to approx. 8 tons. The rocket was jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA.

The H3 should be ready in late 2021. The new rocket will use commercially available components and a fuselage that can be mass produced, lowering launch costs to about half of the current price tag of approximately ¥10 billion (US$89 million). The new, more powerful engine will give the H-III a payload capacity to GTO of up to 6.5 tons -- 60% more than the H-IIA. 5.2m diameter

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N launches

#	Launch id	Payload	Launch date	Type	Status/Comment (orbit in perigee x apogee x inc. x period)
1, N-1	75082	ETS 1	09 Sep 1975	N-1
2, N-2	76019	Ume 1	22 Feb 1976	N-1
3, N-3	77014	ETS 2	23 Feb 1977	N-1
4, N-4	78018	Ume 2	16 Feb 1978	N-1
5, N-5	79009	Ayame 1	6 Feb 1979	N-1	Failure: 3rd stage collided with the payload
6, N-6	80018	Ayame 2	22 Feb 1980	N-1
7, N-7	81012	ETS 4	11 Feb 1981	N-2 (3 stage)
8, N-8	81076	GMS 2	11 Aug 1981	N-2 (3 stage)
9, N-9	82087	ETS 3	3 Sep 1982	N-1
10, N-10	83006	Sakura 2A	4 Feb 1983	N-2 (3 stage)
11, N-11	83081	Sakura 2B	5 Aug 1983	N-2 (3 stage)
12, N-12	84005	Yuri 2A	23 Jan 1984	N-2 (3 stage)
13, N-13	84080	GMS 3	3 Aug 1984	N-2 (3 stage)
14, N-14	86016	Yuri 2B	12 Feb 1986	N-2 (3 stage)
15, N-15	87018	Momo 1A	19 Feb 1987	N-2 (2 stage)

Notes: All launches from Tanegashima.

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H1 launches

#	Launch id	Payload	Launch date	Type	Status/Comment (orbit in perigee x apogee x inc. x period)
1, H-15	86061	A: Ajisai B: Fuji 1A	12 Aug 1986	H-1 (2 st,9 SO)
2, H-17	87070	ETS 5	27 Aug 1987	H-1 (3 st,9 SO)
3, H-18	88012	Sakura 3A	19 Feb 1988	H-1 (3 st,9 SO)
4, H-19	88086	Sakura 3B	16 Sep 1988	H-1 (3 st,9 SO)
5, H-20	89070	GMS 4	5 Sep 1989	H-1 (3 st,6 SO)
6, H-21	90013	A: Momo 1B B: Debut C: Fuji 1B	7 Feb 1990	H-1 (2 st,9 SO)
7, H-22	90077	Yuri 3A	28 Aug 1990	H-1 (3 st,9 SO)
8, H-23	91060	Yuri 3B	25 Aug 1991	H-1 (3 st,9 SO)
9, H-24	92007	JERS 1	11 Feb 1992	H-1 (2 st,9 SO)

Notes: All launches from Tanegashima. In type column: st = stages, SO = strap-ons

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H2 launches

#	Launch id	Payload	Launch date	Type	Status/Comment (orbit in perigee x apogee x inc. x period)
1	94007	A: Ryusei B: Myojo	3 Feb 1994 at 22:20 UT	H2
2	94056	ETS 6	28 Aug 1994	H2 [LAPS]
3	95011	A: SFU B: GMS 5	18 Mar 1995 at 08:01 UT	H2 (2 SSB)
4	96046	A: Adeos 1 B: Fuji 2	17 Aug 1996 at 01:53 UT	H2 (2 SSB)
5	97074	A: TRMM B: ETS 7	27 Nov 1997 at 21:27 UT	H2
6	98011	Comets	21 Feb 1998 at 07:55 UT	H2 [LAPS]	partial failure: the second burn of the top stage failed (after 44 s); maybe caused by a combustion chamber leak
7	n/a	Mtsat 1	15 Nov 1999 ar 07:29 UT	H2	failure: failed 4 minutes after launch, on the first stage. A fuel leak might be the cause. The H2 rocket was abandonned after this failure
8	01038	A: LRE B: VEP 2	29 Aug 2001 at 07:00 UT	H2A 202	The test payload VEP 2 intentionally did not separate from the 2nd stage.
9	02003	A: MDS 1 B: Dash VEP 3	4 Feb 2002 at 02:45 UT	H2A 2024
10	02042	A: Users B: DRTS W	10 Sep 2002 at 08:20 UT	H2A 2024
11	02056	A: Adeos 2 B: Fedsat C: Weos D: Micro Labsat	14 Dec 2002 at 01:31 UT	H2A 202
12	03009	A: IGS 1A B: IGS 1B	28 Mar 2003 at 01:27 UT	H2A 2024
13	n/a	A: IGS 2A B: IGS 2B	29 Nov 2003 at 04:33 UT	H2A 2024	Failure: failed to jetison one of the 2 SRBs
14	05006	Mtsat 1R	26 Feb 2005 at 09-25 UT	H2A 2022	250 x 36000 km x 28.5° Performed a third ignition for the second stage as an experiment
15	06002	Alos	24 Jan 2006 at 01:33 UT	H2A 2022
16	06004	Mtsat 2	18 Feb 2006 at 06:27 UT	H2A 2024	248 x 35680 km x 28.5°
17	06037	IGS 3A	11 Sep 2006 at 04:35 UT	H2A 202
18	06059	ETS 8	18 Dec 2006 at 06:32 UT	H2A 204
19	07005	A: IGS 3B B: IGS 3V	24 Feb 2007 at 04:41 UT	H2A 2024
20	07039	A: Kaguya (Selenological and Engineering Explorer, SELENE) B: Rsat C: Vrad	14 Sep 2007 at 01:31 UT	H2A	Moon probe Object B will be released from A once in lunar orbit, and object C will be later released from B!
21	08007	Winds	23 Feb 2008 at 8:55 UT	H2A 2024	115 x 314 km x 30.1°
22	09002	A: Gosat 1 B: Prism C: SDS 1 D: Kagayaki E: Sohla 1 F: Spritesat G: Stars H: KKS 1	23 Jan 2009 at 03:54 UT	H2A
23	09048	HTV 1 (cargo to ISS)	10 Sep 2009 at 17:02 UT	H2B	185 x 301 km x 51.6°
24	09066	IGS 5A	28 Nov 2009 at 01:21 UT	H2A
25	10020	A: Negai Star B: Waseda Sat 2 C: KSat D: "Akatsuki" (Planet-C) E: Ikaros F: Unitec 1	20 May 2010 at 21:58 UT	H2A	Objects D, E and F delivered in Solar Orbit
26	10045	QZSS 1	11 Sep 2010 at 11:17 UT	H2A 202
27	11003	HTV 2 (Kounotori 2)	23 Jan 2011 at	H2B 304
28	11050	IGS 5B	23 Sep 2011 at 04:36 UT	H2A 202
29	11075	IGS 7A	12 Dec 2011 at 01:21 UT	H2A 202
30	12025	A: GCOM W1 B: Kompsat 3 C: SDS 4 D: Horyu 2	17 May 2012 at 16:39 UT	H2A 202
31	12038	HTV 3 (Kounotori 3)	21 Jul 2012 at 02:06 UT	H2B 304
32	13002	A: IGS 8A B: IGS 8B	27 Jan 2013 at 04:40 UT	H2A 202
33	13040	HTV 4 (Kounotori 4)	3 Aug 2013 at 19:48 UT	H2B
34	14009	A: Shindaisat B: ITF 1 C: GPM D: Opusat E: Teikyosat 3 F: Invader G: Ksat 2 H: Stars 2	27 Feb 2014 at 18:37 UT	H2A
35	14029	A: Alos 2 B: Uniform 1 C: Socrates 1 D: Rising 2 E: Sprout	24 May 2014 at 03:05 UT	H2A	629 x 647 km x 97.9°
36	14060	GMS 8	7 Oct 2014 at 05:16 UT	H2A
37	14076	A: Hayabusa 2 B: Shin'en-2 C: Despatch D: Procyon E: Mascot	3 Dec 2014 at 04:22 UT	H2A	deep space mission
38	15004	IGS Radar Spare	1 Feb 2015 at 01:21 UT	H2A 202	490 x 511 km x 97.5°
39	15015	IGS optical 5	26 Mar 2015 at 01:21 UT	H2A 202
40	15038	HTV 5 To be later deployed from ISS: Flock 2b 1 to 14 Serpens (Brasil) S-cube (Brasil) Gomx 3 AAusat 5	19 Aug 2015 at 11:50 UT	H2B 304
41	15068	Telstar 12V	24 Nov 2015 at 06:50 UT	H2A upgrade	First launch of a privately-owned satellite
42	16012	A: Astro Hsat_astro_h B: Chubusat 2 C: Chubusat 3 D: Horyu 4	17 Feb 2016 at 08:45 UT	H2A
43	16064	GMS 9	2 Nov 2016 at 06:20 UT	H2A
44	16076	HTV 6 (Kounotori 6)	9 Dec 2016 at 13:26 UT	H2B
45	17005	DSN 2	24 Jan 2017 at 07:44 UT	H2A 204
46	17015	IGS Radar 5	17 Mar 2017 at 01:20 UT	H2A
47	17028	QZSS 2	1 Jun 2017 at 00:17 UT	H2A
48	17048	QZSS 3	19 Aug 2017 at 05:29 UT	H2A 204
49	17062	QZSS 4	9 Oct 2017 at 22:01 UT	H2A 202
50	17082	A: GCOM C B: SLATS	23 Dec 2017 at 01:26 UT	H2A
51	18021	IGS optical 6	27 Feb 2018 at 04:34 UT	H2A 202
52	18052	IGS Radar 6	12 Jun 2018 at 04:20 UT	H2A
53	18073	HTV 7 (Kounotori 7)	22 Sep 2018 at 17:52 UT	H2B
54	18084	A: Tenkou B: Gosat 2 F: Khalifasat G: Ten-Koh H: Diwata 2B K: Aoi (1U) I: Stars AO K: AUTCube 2	29 Oct 2018 at 04:08 UT	H2A 202
55	19062	HTV 8 (Kounotori 8)	24 Sep 2019 at 18:05 UT	H2B
56	20009	IGS Optical 7	9 Feb 2020 at 01:34 UT	H2A
57	20030	HTV 9 (Kounotori 9)	20 May 2020 at 17:31 UT	H2B
60	20047	EMM aka Misabar Al'amal	19 Jul 2020 at 21:58 UT	H2A	Mars probe
61	20089	JDRS 1	29 Nov 2020 at 07:25 UT	H2A
62	21096	QZSS 1R	26 Oct 2021 at 02:19 UTC	H2A
63	21128	Inmarsat 6F1	22 Dec 2021 at 15:32 UTC	H2A
64	23012	IGS Radar 7	26 Jan 2023 at 23:00 UTC	H2A 202
65	23137	A: XRISM D: SLIM~ (Lunar orbit)	6 Sep 2023 at 23:42 UTC	H2A
66	24010	IGS Optical 8	12 Jan 2024 at 04:44 UTC	H2A

Notes: All launches from Tanegashima.

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H3 launches

#	Launch id	Payload	Launch date	Type	Status/Comment (orbit in perigee x apogee x inc. x period)
1	n/a	Alos 3	7 Mar 2023	H3	Failure: the second stage did not ignite
2	24032	CE-sat 1E Tirsat 1 + dummy mass attached to second stage	17 Feb 2024	H3	Total payload mass: 2675 or 2900 kg

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