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We wouldn't be able to accurately forecast weather or monitor climate change and how it is affecting our planet.
There would be no critical support for first responders and search and rescue teams in emergencies.
Cash would likely be the only option for payment of goods, as businesses and banks rely on secure satellite links for authorization.
Mobile technologies would cease to function; remote communities would stay permanently disconnected.
And just how good is your map reading? Because without the global positioning systems (GPS) that's now on all our cell phones getting us where we need to go, most of us would be completely lost.

THE BIRTH OF A ROCKET

What does it take to launch the H3 rocket and what does it mean for Japan and the world?

THE BIRTH

What does it take to launch the H3 rocket and what does it mean for Japan and the world?

OF A ROCKET

The countdown has already begun: T-minus two years and counting until 2020, when the ignition sequence will finally commence on the H3 Launch Vehicle.

Mere minutes later, its fearsome rockets will propel it - Japan and the planet's next-generation launch vehicle - into space.

The H3, like its predecessors, the H-IIA and H-IIB, is being co-developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), in long-term partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Its mission? Deliver even more all-important commercial satellites into space (of which more than 6,000 have been launched globally since the 1960s), but at significantly less than the cost per kilogram.

Japan has its eyes firmly set on a bigger share of the space industry prize: now valued at US$339.1 billion. As part of this, the country's own ambition is to double its industry among the stars to around US$11bn (1.2 trillion yen) annually by the 2030s.

But why, you might ask, do we even need all these satellites up there? Quite simply, without commercial satellites in silent orbital overwatch, we'd be blind to all sorts of things.

BUILT FOR THE FUTURE

Since 2001, Japan�s workhorse H-IIA (used for satellite launches) has achieved an orbital launch success rate of 95%, helping to put the JAXA/MHI program among the safest on record in the industry.
(Source: spacelaunchreport.com - Active launch vehicle reliability statistics)

The country's technology has proven itself to be both very flexible, and ultra reliable. Now it's time to upgrade. Enter the H3 Launch Vehicle...

Take a walk around the 63-meter-tall flagship and you'll be staring at the pinnacle of Japanese rocket technology.

It's designed to use three of the new liquid-propellant LE-9 engines when configured without strap-on solid rocket boosters, and two LE-9 engines when configured with them.

The rocket is also designed to launch with zero, two or four strap-on boosters, allowing it to deliver between two and seven metric tons to the geostationary transfer orbit.

In short? It provides maximum flexibility for commercial payloads--and has already attracted commercial interest.

HOW THEY MATCH UP:
H-IIA VS H3

Standing 63-metres tall and weighing in at 574 tons (without payload), the H3 is bigger than its predecessor. And though "innovation" might suggest latest technology is incorporated as standard, MHI has carefully selected components that support ambitious goals.

Complex gimballed nozzles, for example, from the H-IIA have been junked in favor of simpler, fixed nozzles - less to go wrong.

Noise has been another issue. Launch vibrations from roaring engines can damage delicate payloads, so extensive sound testing and acoustic analysis has been employed to develop mitigating solutions.

Simplifying the design of the first stage LE-9 engine has reduced components by 20% from the one million used for the H-IIA - no small task, but one that leaves a lot less to go wrong.

And the rocket's engineers have also ensured all materials and components have been specially selected for their abundant availability in the aerospace and automobile market, ensuring superior reliability and low costs. Despite all this, the engine's thrust is 40% stronger than H-IIA.

FORGING A PARTNERSHIP FOR THE FINAL FRONTIER

Critical to all the H3 developments and successes to date has been MHI and JAXA's unique collaboration - a partnership honed over the past 12 years on multiple launch vehicles. For the H3, MHI's role was expanded to allow for the best chance of success given the objectives. JAXA focuses on the overall system and technology unique to space, and MHI works on the rocket body and other widely-used components - the optimal use of its unique and unrivaled expertise developed across more than 130 years of engineering.

Despite all the challenges, H3 remains on track for its 2020 launch. And with commercial satellite operators already invested, Japan's ambitions among space superpowers including the US and Russia look set to be realized. Mission - very nearly - accomplished.

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