The Epsilon Launch Vehicle, or Epsilon rocket (イプシロンロケット, Ipushiron roketto) (formerly Advanced Solid Rocket), is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites. It is a follow-on project to the larger and more expensive M-V rocket which was retired in 2006. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began developing the Epsilon in 2007. It is capable of placing a 590 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit.[7]
The development aim is to reduce the US$70 million launch cost of an M-V;[8] the Epsilon costs US$38 million per launch.[9] Development expenditures by JAXA exceeded US$200 million.[9]
To reduce the cost per launch the Epsilon uses the existing SRB-A3, a solid rocket booster on the H-IIA rocket, as its first stage. Existing M-V upper stages will be used for the second and third stages, with an optional fourth stage available for launches to higher orbits. The J-I rocket, which was developed during the 1990s but abandoned after just one launch, used a similar design concept, with an H-II booster and Mu-3S-II upper stages.[10]
The Epsilon is expected to have a shorter launch preparation time than its predecessors;[11][12][13] a function called "mobile launch control" greatly shortens the launch preparation time, and needs only eight people at the launch site,[14] compared with 150 people for earlier systems.[15]
The rocket has a mass of 91 t (90 long tons; 100 short tons) and is 24.4 m (80 ft) tall and 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in diameter.[16][17]
After the successful launch of the Epsilon first flight (demonstration flight), the improvement plan was decided to handle the planned payloads (ERG and ASNARO-2).[18]
Requirements for the improvement:[18]
Planned characteristics:[18]
Catalog performance according to IHI Aerospace:[19]
Final characteristics:[7][20]
Epsilon's first stage has been the modified SRB-A3 which is the solid-rocket booster of H-IIA. As the H-IIA is to be decommissioned and to be replaced by H3, Epsilon is to be replaced by new version, named Epsilon S.[21]
Major changes of Epsilon S from Epsilon are:[21]
Planned performance of Epsilon S is:[21]
The first launch of Epsilon S is planned in 2023.[21]
On July 14, 2023, the second stage of Epsilon S failed during a test firing.[22]
Epsilon launch vehicles are launched from a pad at the Uchinoura Space Center previously used by Mu launch vehicles. The maiden flight, carrying the SPRINT-A scientific satellite, lifted off at 05:00 UTC (14:00 JST) on 14 September 2013. The launch was conducted at a cost of US$38 million.[23]
On 27 August 2013, the first planned launch of the launch vehicle had to be aborted 19 seconds before liftoff because of a botched data transmission. A ground-based computer had tried to receive data from the launch vehicle 0.07 seconds before the information was actually transmitted.[24]
The initial version of Epsilon has a payload capacity to low Earth orbit of up to 500 kilograms,[25][26] with the operational version expected to be able to place 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) into a 250 by 500 km (160 by 310 mi) orbit, or 700 kg (1,500 lb) to a circular orbit at 500 km (310 mi) with the aid of a hydrazine fueled stage.[9]
Sources: Japanese Cabinet[47]
In November 2012, JAXA reported that there had been a possible leak of rocket data due to a computer virus. JAXA had previously been a victim of cyber-attacks, possibly for espionage purposes.[48] Solid-fuel rocket data potentially has military value,[48] and Epsilon is considered as potentially adaptable to an intercontinental ballistic missile.[49] The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency removed the infected computer from its network, and said its M-V rocket and H-IIA and H-IIB rockets may have been compromised.[50]
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