H-1 Rocket

The H–I or H–1 was a Japanese liquid-fuelled carrier rocket, consisting of a licence-produced American first stage and set of booster rockets, and all-Japanese upper stages. The H in the name represented the use of liquid hydrogen fuel in the second stage. It was launched nine times between 1986 and 1992. It replaced the N-II, and was subsequently replaced by the H-II, which used the same upper stages with a Japanese first stage.

The first stage of the H–I was a licence-built version of the Thor-ELT, which was originally constructed for the US Delta 1000 rocket. The stage had already been produced under licence in Japan for the N-I and N-II rockets. The second stage was entirely Japanese, using an LE-5 engine, the first rocket engine in Japan to use a cryogenic fuel. On launches to Geosynchronous transfer orbits, a Nissan–built UM-69A solid motor was used as a third stage. Depending on the mass of the payload, either six or nine US Castor 2 SRMs were used as booster rockets.

Himawari

The Himawari (“sunflower”) geostationary satellites, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), support weather forecasting, tropical cyclone tracking, and meteorology research. Most meteorological agencies in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand use the satellites for their own weather monitoring and forecasting operations.

Originally also named Geostationary Meteorological Satellites (GMS), since the launch of GMS-1 (Himawari 1) in 1977, there have been three generations, including GMS, MTSAT, and Himawari 8/9. Himawari 8/9 satellites are currently available for operational use.