H3 Launch Vehicle
JAXA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The H3 is Japan new flagship launch vehicle developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Designed to replace the H-IIA, the H3 offers improved cost efficiency, flexibility, and reliability for commercial and government missions. It features the LE-9 first-stage engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, with configurable fairing sizes and optional solid rocket boosters […]
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 6,500 kg
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Height
- 63 meters
- Liftoff mass
- 574 tons
- Payload to GTO
- 6.5
- Payload to SSO
- 4.0
- First stage engines
- 2-3 LE-9
- Propellant
- LH2 / LOX
About
The H3 is Japan new flagship launch vehicle developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Designed to replace the H-IIA, the H3 offers improved cost efficiency, flexibility, and reliability for commercial and government missions. It features the LE-9 first-stage engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, with configurable fairing sizes and optional solid rocket boosters to accommodate a wide range of payload classes. The H3 can deliver up to 6.5 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit or 4 tonnes to sun-synchronous orbit. Its development emphasized reducing launch costs to remain competitive on the global commercial market while preserving the high reliability standards that characterized its predecessor. The H3 marked a new era for Japan space transportation capability following its successful maiden flight in 2024.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.