Japan is set to launch a rocket for the first time since an embarrassing failure in 2003 with pressure mounting as China presses ahead in space and established space countries take the lead in the lucrative satellite market.
"The next launch of the rocket may decide the fate of the space development program of Japan," said Hideo Nagasu, former chief of the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan.
"Because Japan still needs more experience, we have a long way ahead of ourselves before Japan's dream of entering a commercial satellite launch market is to be realized," he said.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which was established in 2003 by integrating three Japanese space agencies including the National Aerospace Laboratory, will launch the H-2A rocket today to send into orbit a multi-function satellite that can monitor weather and navigate aircraft.
The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Kagoshima prefecture but was postponed because of bad weather.
"We have studied the cause of the previous failure. We redesigned the rocket and we are confident that this will be successful," said Masato Nakamura, spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
So far, Japan has sent up five H-2A rockets successfully, but suffered a setback in November 2003 when it had to destroy the sixth H-2A rocket just 10 minutes after lift-off when one of two rocket boosters failed to separate from the main body.
"Many countries, such as Europe, Russia and the United States, have also failed many times as they gained experience. We believe we are more advanced than many other countries," Nakamura said.
The failure was all the more embarrassing as it came one month after China, Japan's neighbor and growing rival, became the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to launch a successful manned space flight.
While few would feel Japan needs to prove itself in technology, the world's second largest economy is looking for a slice of the market in launching satellites.
"We think we can eventually enter the commercial satellite launch market, in which we would be launching satellites for Japanese and foreign entities," Nakamura said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency, which will manage the new satellite on the H-2A, said it once considered using Europe's Ariane rocket because of the less than stable performance of the Japanese rockets.
In November 1999, Japanese space authorities exploded a ?24 billion (US$228 million) H-2 rocket and a multi-functional weather satellite of the meteorological agency by remote control when it veered off-course after liftoff.
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