A Minotaur V rocket carrying NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) lifts off from at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. (Credit: NASA/Chris Perry)

Recently, there’s been a bit of a kerfuffle over the use of surplus intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to launch satellites. Orbital ATK would like to lift the ban on using them to launch commercial satellites, the U.S. Air Force would like to find a way to sell the engines, and an emerging commercial launch industry that doesn’t want what it considers government-subsidized competition.

Now, you’ve probably been wondering a few things. What does Orbital ATK do with these engines? What does it launch on them? And what launch vehicles are in operation or in development to compete with these boosters?

Those are all great questions. And now the answers.

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Hayabusa2 launch aboard a H-2A rocket (Credit: JAXA)

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
President Naoki Okumura
January Press Conference

Cabinet Approval of JFY 2015 Budget

The original Japan Fiscal Year 2015 budget was approved by the Cabinet on Jan. 14. JAXA’s total budget is 154.1 billion yen [$1.29 billion], about 400 million [3.35 million] less than that of JFY 2014 of 154.5 billion yen [$1.3 billion]. However, a supplementary budget of 29.9 billion yen [$250 million] was already set, thus the total will be 184 billion yen [$1.54 billion]. So, incorporating the supplementary budgets, the JFY 2015 JAXA budget is about a 2.5 billion yen [$21 million] increase from the 2014 budged of 181.5 billion yen [$1.52 billion].

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JAXA’s Epsilon rocket on its first test flight. (Credit: JAXA)

Flush from its inaugural launch in September, JAXA’s new Epsilon launch vehicle has received prizes  from two different organizations.

The Epsilon launch vehicle recently received the Nikkei Award for Excellence at the 2013 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards (the 32nd event).   The rocket was also honored with the Gold Award in the JFY 2013 Good Design competition.

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Aviation Week reports that Japan is looking to commercialize its new Epsilon small-satellite launch vehicle, which flew successfully for the first time earlier this month: Morita says the prototype Epsilon rocket, known as the E-X, is able to loft 1.2 metric tons to orbit for about $38 million (¥3.8 billion), though the inaugural mission launched this month from Japan’s Uchinoura Space Center cost closer to $53 million, a figure he […]

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) onboard at 2:00 p.m. JST on September 14, 2013 from the Uchinoura Space Center.

The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 61 minutes and 39 seconds after liftoff, the separation of the SPRINT-A was confirmed.

JAXA has confirmed that the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) has deployed its solar array paddles (SAPs) normally at 15:49 p.m. today through data received at the Uchinoura Ground Station. The satellite is currently in good health.

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Japan’s newest rocket, Epsilon, roared off the launch pad in Kagoshima Prefecture at 2 p.m. JST (1 a.m. EDT) Saturday. Twelve minutes after liftoff, officials reported the burnout of the rocket’s third stage, which putting the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) satellite under the control of the Post-Boost Stage (PBS). The PBS will make two burns to optimize the spacecraft’s orbit. The advanced, solid-fuel Epsilon […]

JAXA will broadcast the launch of the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) on board from the Uchinoura Space Center through the Internet. The webcast can be viewed here. Scheduled launch day: Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 Scheduled launch time: 1:45:00 p.m. JST (12:45 a.m. EDT/9:25 p.m. PDT) Scheduled launch time window: 1:45 thru 2:30 p.m. Broadcast Schedule Saturday, Sept. […]

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) decided to postpone the launch of the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) onboard on August 27 from the Uchinoura Space Center. As a result of our cause investigation of the postponement and re-examination of the Epsilon-1, the new launch date will be September 14, 2013 (Japan Standard Time) […]

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) cancelled today’s launch of the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) onboard from the Uchinoura Space Center, because an automatic stop alarm was issued as an attitude abnormality was detected approximately 19 seconds prior to the liftoff time during the automatic countdown sequence. The launch had been originally scheduled […]

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) decided to postpone the launch of the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) on board to August 27, 2013, from the Uchinoura Space Center. The launch was originally scheduled for August 22, 2013 from the center.

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