right|270px|thumb|The Liftoff of H-IIA Flight 19

right|270px|thumb|The H-IIA rocket lineup

thumb|80px|The H-IIA

thumb|right|Engine at [[Miraikan]]

H-IIA (H-2A) is a retired Japanese expendable launch system that was developed and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in collaboration with JAXA. It was primarily used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit, interplanetary probes, and Earth observation missions. Notable payloads launched by the H-IIA include Akatsuki, a Venus climate orbiter, and the Emirates Mars Mission, which was launched toward Mars in July 2020. All launches were conducted from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The H-IIA made its maiden flight on 29 August 2001 and flew a total of 50 times before its retirement on 28 June 2025. It achieved 49 successful launches, including a streak of 44 consecutive missions from 2003 to 2025. Management and production responsibility was transferred from JAXA to MHI on 1 April 2007, with Flight 13, carrying the SELENE lunar orbiter, being the first mission under private operation.

The H-IIA was derived from the earlier H-II launch vehicle and featured significant design changes aimed at improving reliability and reducing cost. Several variants were developed, with the final configuration, designated H2A 202, retired in 2025. A derivative design, the H-IIB, was introduced in 2009 and retired in 2020. The H-II series of launch vehicles have been succeeded by the H3 rocket, which conducted its first flight in March 2023.

Vehicle description and variants

The H-IIA had two-stage core powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and various configurations of boosters to provide additional thrust based on mission requirements.

The base and final active configuration, H2A 202, used two SRB-A type solid rocket boosters. Launch performance could be enhanced by adding up to two additional SRB-As for a total of four boosters, or by adding up to four Castor 4AXL solid strap-on boosters (SSBs), for a total of six boosters.

H-IIA configurations were designated by a three- or four-digit code following the prefix "H2A":

  • The first digit indicates the number of core stages (always 2).
  • The second digit indicates the number of liquid rocket boosters, which were planned but never developed (always 0).
  • The third digit indicates the number of SRB-A solid rocket boosters (2 or 4).
  • The optional fourth digit indicates the number of Castor 4AXL strap-on boosters (2 or 4).

;Status:

{| class="wikitable"

! Designation

! Mass<hr>t (lb)

! Payload to GTO<hr>t (lb)

! Boosters

|-style="background: #f9f9f9

| H2A 202 || || || 2 × SRB-A (SRB)

|-style="background: #f9f9f9

| H2A2022 || || || 2 × SRB-A (SRB) +

|-style="background: #f9f9f9

| H2A 2024 || || || 2 × SRB-A (SRB) +

|-style="background: #f9f9f9

| H2A 204 || || || 4 × SRB-A (SRB)

|-style="background: #e0e0e0

| H2A 212 || || || 2 × SRB-A (SRB) + 1 × LRB

|-style="background: #e0e0e0

| H2A 222 || || || 2 × SRB-A (SRB) + 2 × LRBs launched the Telstar 12V satellite, the first commercial primary payload for a Japanese launch vehicle.

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

! Flight !! Date (UTC) !! Type !! Payload(s) !! Outcome

|-

!

| 29 August 2001<br/>07:00:00 || H2A 202|| VEP 2<br/>LRE ||

|-

!

| 4 February 2002<br/>02:45:00 || H2A 2024 || VEP 3<br/>MDS-1 (Tsubasa)<br/>DASH ||

|-

! F3

| 10 September 2002<br/>08:20:00 || H2A 2024 || USERS<br/>DRTS (Kodama) ||

|-

! F4

| 14 December 2002<br/>01:31:00 || H2A 202 || ADEOS 2 (Midori 2)<br/>WEOS (Kanta-kun)<br/>FedSat 1<br/>Micro LabSat 1 ||

|-

! F5

| 28 March 2003<br/> 01:27:00 || H2A 2024 || IGS-Optical 1<br/>IGS-Radar 1 ||

|-

! rowspan=2 | F6

| 29 November 2003<br/>04:33:00 || H2A 2024 || IGS-Optical<br/>IGS-Radar ||

|-

| colspan=4 style="background:linen" | A hot gas leak from SRB-A motor destroyed its separation system and the booster did not separate as planned. The weight of the spent motor prevented the vehicle from achieving its planned speed and height and it was destroyed via a ground command about 10 minutes into the flight.

|-

! F7

| 26 February 2005<br/>09:25:00 || H2A 2022 || MTSAT-1R (Himawari 6) ||

|-

! F8

| 24 January 2006<br/>01:33:00 || H2A 2022 || ALOS (Daichi) ||

|-

! F9

| 18 February 2006<br/>06:27:00 || H2A 2024 || MTSAT-2 (Himawari 7) ||

|-

! F10

| 11 September 2006<br/>04:35:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 2 ||

|-

! F11

| 18 December 2006<br/>06:32:00 || H2A 204 || ETS-VIII (Kiku 8) ||

|-

! F12

| 24 February 2007<br/>04:41:00 || H2A 2024 || IGS-Radar 2<br/>IGS-Optical 3V ||

|-

! F13

| 14 September 2007<br/>01:31:01 || H2A 2022 || SELENE (Kaguya) ||

|-

! F14

| 23 February 2008<br/>08:55:00 || H2A 2024 || WINDS (Kizuna) ||

|-

! F15

| 23 January 2009<br/>03:54:00 || H2A 202 || GOSAT (Ibuki)<br/>SDS-1<br/>STARS (Kūkai)<br/>KKS-1 (Kiseki)<br/>PRISM (Hitomi)<br/>Sohla-1 (Maido 1)<br/>SORUNSAT-1 (Kagayaki)<br/>SPRITE-SAT (Raijin) ||

|-

! F16

| 28 November 2009<br/>01:21:00|| H2A 202|| IGS-Optical 3 ||

|-

! F17

| 20 May 2010<br/>21:58:22|| H2A 202 || PLANET-C (Akatsuki)<br/>IKAROS<br/>UNITEC-1 (Shin'en)<br/>Waseda-SAT2<br/>K-Sat (Hayato)<br/>Negai☆″||

|-

! F18

| 11 September 2010<br/>11:17:00|| H2A 202 || QZS-1 (Michibiki) ||

|-

! F19

| 23 September 2011<br/>04:36:50|| H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 4 ||

|-

! F20

| 12 December 2011<br/>01:21:00|| H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 3 ||

|-

! F21

| 17 May 2012<br/>16:39:00 || H2A 202 || GCOM-W1 (Shizuku)<br/>KOMPSAT-3 (Arirang 3)<br/>SDS-4 <br/>HORYU-2||

|-

! F22

| 27 January 2013<br/>04:40:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 4<br/>IGS-Optical 5V ||

|-

! F23

| 27 February 2014<br/>18:37:00 || H2A 202 || GPM-Core<br/> SindaiSat (Ginrei)<br/> STARS-II (Gennai)<br/> TeikyoSat-3<br/> ITF-1 (Yui)<br/> OPUSAT (CosMoz)<br/> INVADER<br/> KSAT2 ||

|-

! F24

| 24 May 2014<br/>03:05:14 || H2A 202 || ALOS-2 (Daichi 2)<br/> RISING-2<br/> UNIFORM-1<br/> SOCRATES<br/> SPROUT ||

|-

! F25

| 7 October 2014<br/>05:16:00 || H2A 202 || Himawari 8 ||

|-

! F26

| 3 December 2014<br/>04:22:04 || H2A 202 || Hayabusa2<br/>Shin'en 2<br/>ARTSAT2-DESPATCH<br/>PROCYON ||

|-

! F27

| 1 February 2015<br/>01:21:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar Spare ||

|-

! F28

| 26 March 2015<br/>01:21:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 5 ||

|-

! F29

| 24 November 2015<br/>06:50:00 || H2A 204 || Telstar 12 Vantage ||

|-

! rowspan=2 | F30

| 17 February 2016<br/>08:45:00 || H2A 202 || ASTRO-H (Hitomi)<br/>ChubuSat-2 (Kinshachi 2)<br/>ChubuSat-3 (Kinshachi 3)<br/>Horyu-4 ||

|-

| colspan=4 style="background:linen" | The Hitomi telescope broke apart 37 days after launch.

|-

! F31

| 2 November 2016<br/>06:20:00 || H2A 202 || Himawari 9 ||

|-

! F32

| 24 January 2017<br/>07:44:00 || H2A 204 || DSN-2 (Kirameki 2) ||

|-

! F33

| 17 March 2017<br/>01:20:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 5 ||

|-

! F34

| 1 June 2017<br/>00:17:46 || H2A 202 || QZS-2 (Michibiki 2) ||

|-

! F35

| 19 August 2017<br/>05:29:00 || H2A 204 || QZS-3 (Michibiki 3) ||

|-

! F36

| 9 October 2017<br/>22:01:37 || H2A 202 || QZS-4 (Michibiki 4) ||

|-

! F37

| 23 December 2017<br/>01:26:22 || H2A 202 || GCOM-C (Shikisai)<br/>SLATS (Tsubame) ||

|-

! F38

| 27 February 2018<br/>04:34:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 6 ||

|-

! F39

| 12 June 2018<br/>04:20:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 6 ||

|-

! F40

| 29 October 2018<br/>04:08:00 || H2A 202 || GOSAT-2 (Ibuki-2)<br/>KhalifaSat<br/>Diwata-2B<br/>Tenkōh<br/>Stars-AO (Aoi)<br/>AUTcube2 (Gamacube) ||

|-

! F41

| 9 February 2020<br/>01:34:00 || H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 7 ||

|-

! F42

| 19 July 2020<br/>21:58:14 || H2A 202 || Emirates Mars Mission (Hope) ||

|-

! F43

| 29 November 2020<br/>07:25:00 || H2A 202 || JDRS/LUCAS ||

|-

! F44

| 26 October 2021<br/>02:19:37 || H2A 202 || QZS-1R ||

|-

! F45

| 22 December 2021<br/>15:32:00 || H2A 204 || Inmarsat-6 F1 ||

|-

! F46

| 26 January 2023<br/>01:50:21 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 7 ||

|-

! F47

| 6 September 2023<br/>23:42:11 || H2A 202 || XRISM<br/>SLIM ||

|-

! F48

| 12 January 2024<br/>04:44:26 || H2A 202 || IGS-Optical 8 ||

|-

! F49

| 26 September 2024<br/>05:24:20 || H2A 202 || IGS-Radar 8 ||

|-

! rowspan=2| F50

| 28 June 2025<br/>16:33:03 || H2A 202 || GOSAT-GW ||

|-

| colspan=4 style="background:linen" | Final flight of H-IIA, and H-II family as a whole.

|}

See also

  • Comparison of orbital launchers families
  • Comparison of orbital launch systems
  • Comparison of retired orbital launch systems

References

Notes

Sources

  • H-IIA , Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
  • JAXA H-IIA English page

de:H-II#H-IIA