H-IIA
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Launch Services
Japan's workhorse medium-lift expendable launch vehicle, with an extensive track record delivering government and commercial payloads to GTO and SSO.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 4,000 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
- Payload to GTO (H-IIA 202)
- 4,000 kg
- Payload to GTO (H-IIA 204)
- 6,000 kg
- Payload to SSO (500 km)
- ~4,100 kg
- First stage engine
- LE-7A (LH2 / LOX, two-stage combustion)
- Second stage engine
- LE-5B (LH2 / LOX)
- Fairing diameter
- 4 m
- Height
- ~53 m
- Launch site
- Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
- Flight record
- >97% success rate, 47+ flights (2001–2024)
About
H-IIA is Japan’s primary operational orbital launch vehicle, developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and operated commercially by MHI Launch Services. Since its operational debut in 2001, H-IIA has become one of the world’s most reliable launch vehicles, with a success rate exceeding 97% across more than 47 flights as of 2024.
The rocket uses the LE-7A engine — a liquid hydrogen / liquid oxygen two-stage combustion cycle engine — on its first stage, and the LE-5B on its second stage. It is available in several configurations: H-IIA 202 (standard with two solid rocket boosters, SRB-A3), H-IIA 204 (four SRBs, higher GTO capacity), and the retired H-IIA 2022 and 2024 configurations. The standard 4 m fairing accommodates a range of commercial and government satellites.
H-IIA has launched a wide variety of Japanese government payloads including the Himawari meteorological satellites, optical and radar reconnaissance satellites for the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center (CSICE), the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission, and the SLIM lunar lander. Commercially, it has launched communication satellites for SkyPerfect JSAT and other commercial customers.
H-IIA is being phased out in favor of H3, with the final missions completing the existing manifest through the mid-2020s.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.