Month: February 2023

Enlarge / Japan's H3 rocket is seen inside its hangar in Tanegashima. (credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)

Japan has a long history of launching orbital rockets, dating back about half a century. During much of this time, its launch industry has focused largely on orbiting national payloads, such as communications, global positioning, and Earth-observation satellites for sovereign purposes.

However, with the H2-A rocket introduced in 2001, the country's launch industry sought to tap into the commercial launch market and send satellites into space for other countries and private companies. With this medium-lift rocket, which is about on par in lift capacity with SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster, Japan had some commercial successes, including the notable launch of the Emirates Mars Mission in 2020.

But the H2-A rocket, which is manufactured by the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has never really broken through. One reason is cost. At a launch price of approximately $90 million, the H2A rocket is about 50 percent more expensive than SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. As a result, Japan's H2A booster only launches a handful of times per year, primarily serving the Japanese government.

Enlarge / Search and rescue efforts continue at collapsed buildings in Hatay after 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkey. (credit: Anadolu Agency)

Two days after a devastating earthquake struck, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited one of the worst-affected areas and declared that it was “not possible to be prepared for such a disaster.”

Certainly the scale of the destruction was unforeseen. The death toll from the earthquakes of February 6, 2023, that struck Turkey and Northern Syria is still climbing. But one week on, it has been documented that over 35,000 people were killed, with more than 50,000 injured and over 1,000,000 receiving aid for survival in bitter cold conditions. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit while many were sleeping in the town of Pazarcık in Kahramanmaraş, Southern Turkey—the epicenter of the quake. It was followed nine hours later by a major aftershock in Elbistan, a town about 50 miles from the initial quake, sending buildings weakened in the first shock to total collapse.

The final death tolls are likely to place these two successive earthquakes among the worst natural disasters that have been witnessed in the world.

Enlarge / Search and rescue efforts continue at collapsed buildings in Hatay after 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkey. (credit: Anadolu Agency)

Two days after a devastating earthquake struck, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited one of the worst-affected areas and declared that it was “not possible to be prepared for such a disaster.”

Certainly the scale of the destruction was unforeseen. The death toll from the earthquakes of February 6, 2023, that struck Turkey and Northern Syria is still climbing. But one week on, it has been documented that over 35,000 people were killed, with more than 50,000 injured and over 1,000,000 receiving aid for survival in bitter cold conditions. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit while many were sleeping in the town of Pazarcık in Kahramanmaraş, Southern Turkey—the epicenter of the quake. It was followed nine hours later by a major aftershock in Elbistan, a town about 50 miles from the initial quake, sending buildings weakened in the first shock to total collapse.

The final death tolls are likely to place these two successive earthquakes among the worst natural disasters that have been witnessed in the world.