Japan plans to launch the Michibiki No. 6 navigation satellite as early as Feb. 1.
If there was any doubt about how the cadence of space launches is skyrocketing globally, the early days of 2025 are amply illustrating this dynamic of today’s rocket business.
China has disclosed plans to ramp up its pace of missions, India kicked off its launch operations for the year, and Blue Origin and SpaceX have already made their mark on this year’s launch agenda with flights of New Glenn and Starship. Now Japan and Europe are gearing up to join, with their biggest rockets set to fly in February.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans the fifth mission for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H3 rocket on Feb. 1. The 2-hr. launch window at the Yoshinobu Launch Complex of JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center is due to open at 5:30 p.m. local time.
The rocket will carry the Michibiki No. 6 positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) service spacecraft, also called the Quasi-Zenith Satellite. It will be the first of three additional spacecraft to expand the four-satellite constellation. The additional assets are intended to assure that at least four of the satellites will be over Japan.
JAXA said the new generation of satellites will feature an inter-satellite ranging system to reduce the positioning error of the satellites. They also will have satellite-to-ground ranging equipment to improve accuracy. The goal is to improve the accuracy on future satellites to 1 m (3.3 ft.).
Europe has set Feb. 26 as its resumption of Ariane 6 flights. The mission that was due in 2024 was delayed as engineers worked through issues discovered during the rocket’s inaugural mission on July 9, 2024, and by production snarls.
It will be the first Ariane 6 flight operated by commercial launch service provider Arianespace after the European Space Agency (ESA) oversaw the first flight. The VA263 mission from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, is due to loft the CSO-3 Earth-observation satellite for the French military and place it into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of around 800 km (500 mi.).
The flight would be the first of five Ariane 6 missions that Arianespace has planned for this year. The next flight is scheduled for August. Both missions involve the Ariane 62 configuration with two P120C solid boosters. Europe also plans the inaugural flight of the four-booster Ariane 64 before year’s end.
Further out, South Korean launcher startup Innospace is eyeing the inaugural launch of its Hanbit-Nano rocket in July, while German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg plans the first flight of its RFA One from the Scottish SaxaVord Spaceport in the coming months, among others. British launcher startup Orbex Space, now backed by the UK government, plans to fly its two-stage Prime microlauncher for the first time toward year’s end.
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