On October 11 UTC (October 12 in Japan), a Japanese Epsilon rocket launched the RAISE 3 mission from the Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan.

The JAXA webcasts are always fun to watch, and this was no different, with the three hosts talking excitedly about the payloads on the mission with the rocket itself in the background.

This was the sixth flight of an Epsilon rocket overall and the fifth of the Epsilon S variant. The eight payloads included the rapid innovative payload demonstration satellite (RAISE), three primary satellites, and two radar satellites for the Japanese company IQPS. Rounding out the satellites onboard were five CubeSats from Japanese universities.

The all-solid vehicle took off from the pad right on schedule, and all appeared nominal through first-stage burnout. The webcast continued on through the point of third-stage ignition, showing a map of the rocket’s track.

Then, the webcast unexpectedly switched back to the empty pad at the scheduled time of the third-stage ignition. The no-longer-excited hosts came back on to announce the end of the webcast and told viewers to look for updates on JAXA’s website. None of which is a good sign for a launch.

A post-launch press conference confirmed that the telemetry showed the rocket’s attitude was wrong at the moment of the first-stage shutdown. Instead of having the rocket go off course, JAXA triggered the flight termination system prior to separation and ignition of the next stages.

Now about those satellites that should have been put into orbit.

Like RAISE 1 and 2, RAISE 3 was developed to test a variety of small instruments on one platform. RAISE 3 contained seven instruments, including a transmitter for Internet of Things devices, a new thruster that used water as a propellant, and a deorbit sail sized for microsatellites.

QPS SAR 3 and 4 were supposed to be the first operational satellites for IQPS’ constellation.

The five university CubeSats included two that were going to test proximity operations between smallsats, useful for Earth observation; one that was testing off-the-shelf parts for semiconductors in space; and one that was 3D printed as a single piece; and one that was going to study the Earth’s crust under the sea floor.

More Information

JAXA press release