Japan’s satellite launch business is set to enter a new stage in 2011, when Mitsubishi Heavy Industries uses its H-IIA, a mainstay rocket produced in Japan, to launch the Korea Multipurpose Satellite-3, or Kompsat-3, of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. This will mark the first time for a Japanese rocket to launch a non-Japanese commercial satellite. Japan’s satellite launch vehicles have been developed with an eye to having 100% of their key technologies produced in Japan. The N-I rocket, first launched in 1975, relied completely on imported technologies, but in advancing to the N-II in 1981 and the H-I in 1986, the levels of Japanese technologies used rose to 20% and 50%, respectively. By 1994, with the first flight of the H-II rocket, the goal of producing all of the key components and technologies in Japan had become a reality. An advanced version of ... ... [Read more]