Japan's rising space ambitions depend on getting H3 rocket to work

Reliable launch platform needed to achieve security and exploration goals

Kazuto Suzuki

April 18, 2023 05:00 JST

Japanese controllers instructed the H3 rocket to self-destruct after its second-stage engine failed to ignite after launch on March 7. (Photo by Tomoki Mera)

Kazuto Suzuki is a professor in the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Public Policy and director of the Institute of Geoeconomics, a Tokyo-based think tank.

Japan's space program is at a standstill. Last month's failed launch of the H3 next-generation rocket is only the latest setback to hit the program.