Japan's largest defense contractor has developed the 30th H-2A rocket, which will carry a satellite designed to study black holes, local media reported Wednesday.
The 53-meter-long rocket was assembled at the Tobishima Plant of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in central Japan's Aichi prefecture and will be transported to the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture next week at the earliest.
The rocket is scheduled to launch a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) satellite, which will study black holes and other astronomical phenomenon in the first quarter of next year, The Asahi Shimbun reported.
Its predecessor, H-2A Launch Vehicle No. 29, blasted off last week and raised the success rate of Japan's mainstay rocket to 96.6 percent. As Japan's primary large-scale launch vehicle, H-2A was first lifted off in 2001.
"The reliability of the rocket is high, even by international standards," Koki Nimura, a senior technician at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was quoted as saying.
Regarding the operation of H-2A Launch Vehicle No. 30, Nimura said, "We hope to mark a definitive launch with our determinations anew."
