Launch News SUCCESS! H-2A rocket launched Japanese military communications satellite

[Nicholas Kang]

EDIT: Webcast ended.

Live broadcasts starts now!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuti-6p_JPU"]H-IIAãƒã‚±ãƒƒãƒˆ32å�·æ©Ÿ 打上ã�’ / H-2A Rocket F32 Launch - YouTube[/ame]

Spectators at the Tanegashima Space Center are streaming live video of today’s H-2A launch.

Spaceflightnow.com:http://spaceflightnow.com/2017/01/2...f-japanese-military-communications-satellite/

The first communications satellite dedicated to support Japanese military forces will launch Tuesday on top of an H-2A rocket on the way to a perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

The advanced spacecraft carries an X-band communications payload to relay messages and serve the command and control network of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

A Japanese H-2A rocket, built and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will launch the powerful DSN 2 communications satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 0744 GMT (2:44 a.m. EST) Tuesday.

The launch window, which opens at 4:44 p.m. Japan Standard Time on Tuesday, extends for 74 minutes, and the weather forecast calls for favorable conditions.

The rocket rolled out of its 265-foot-tall (81-meter) assembly building around 1800 GMT (1 p.m. EDT; 3 a.m. Japan Standard Time), approximately 14 hours before the appointed launch time. Riding a mobile launch platform, the H-2A rocket reached its launch pad 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the assembly structure for fueling and other final flight preps.

Artist’s concept of a Japanese X-band military communications satellite. Credit: Japanese Ministry of Defense

The satellite will likely be released into an egg-shaped geostationary transfer orbit, with a high point at, or above, an altitude of more than 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers). DSN 2’s own rocket engine will maneuver the spacecraft into a circular geostationary orbit over the equator, where its communications antennas will reach military units patrolling by land, sea and air across the Asia-Pacific.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

The presentations are always first rate, but that constant counting grates on my nerves. I have to watch with the sound turned down.

Good launch, she doesn't waste any time getting off the pad.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

DSN-2 Separated!

Spacecraft Separation confirmed!

Successful launch!!

The roll-out video:

Pre-launch briefing:

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