Spaceflight Now: Breaking News

Engine that downed Japan's H-2 rocket is recovered
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: Jan. 24, 2000

  Engine
The failed main engine is recovered from the ocean floor. Photo: NASDA
 
The deep-sea search for wreckage of November's failed Japanese H-2 rocket launch on Sunday recovered the suspect engine that triggered the failure.

The rocket's liquid-fueled main engine mysteriously stopped firing minutes after liftoff on November 15, forcing officials to blow up the $180 million H-2 and its $95 million Japanese communications and navigation satellite payload.

NASDA space agency opted to begin a search of the Pacific to locate the rocket's debris in hopes of determining what caused the malfunction.

The hunt by an unmanned, U.S.-build submersible craft brought up the engine debris from its resting point 2,900 meters below the Pacific Ocean surface.

The Japan Marine Science and Technology Center in Yokosuka located the main engine on the seabed last month.

The H-2 rocket impacted about 150 kilometers northwest of the Ogasawara Islands, or 1,250 km southeast of the launch site, according to NASDA.

The Kyodo news agency reports the Space Activities Commission, Japan's top space-policy board, believes the launch mishap was caused by a broken liquid hydrogen fuel line.

But the commission is facing difficulties in determining which parts broke and what caused them to do so, commission sources said.

The recovery ship will return the engine to Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, so the wreckage can be sent to the National Aerospace Laboratory for study.

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