The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the seventh mission of its H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki 5 satellite on December 21, 2025. Shortly after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage engine suffered a malfunction causing it to shut down prematurely. JAXA officials recently revealed the root cause of the rocket anomaly: The protective cone-shaped cover that surrounds the satellite, known as the payload fairing, separated about 4 minutes after launch. As a result, the satellite continued to fight for its life before essentially falling back to Earth.
JAXA shared extensive information about the recent anomaly, including this useful illustration of the payload fairing breaking off from the rocket.
anomalous anomaly
The rocket business is undoubtedly difficult, and launches fail all the way. However, this incident may be one of the strangest ways in which a rocket has failed to deliver its payload.
The 207-foot-tall (63-meter) rocket had a rocky start, ending in a self-destruct command just 15 minutes after its first launch on March 6, 2023. However, since its first launch failure, H3 has completed five successful missions.
Shortly after the recent failed mission, JAXA said telemetry data showed that pressure in the second stage’s hydrogen tanks had begun to lose pressure during the first stage’s engine burn. As a result, first stage engine cutoff occurred 27 seconds later than planned, causing a 15 second delay in second ignition. At the time, it was not yet clear whether the satellite had separated from the rocket.
JAXA officials began investigating the anomaly and found that the rocket began to lose pressure when it accidentally closed its payload fairing. The satellite and payload adapter may have been damaged by the shock of fairing separation.
Footage captured by a camera mounted on the adapter shows the satellite apparently suffering damage to its panels and insulation after the payload fairing came off. A shower of debris engulfed the satellite, which remained stuck to the rocket without any protective covering.
After the first stage shut down and separated, the shock dislocated the satellite, causing it to fall away from the rocket. The camera showed the satellite being lost in Earth orbit during an untimely return to Earth. JAXA officials said the satellite fell in the Pacific Ocean in the same area as the H3 first stage.
lost in Space
JAXA still doesn’t know why the payload fairing suddenly separated, and that part of the anomaly remains under investigation.
It took 11 years to build Japan’s H3 rocket, a successor to the H-2A, which the agency planned to retire in June 2025. Before its latest failure, JAXA had aimed to launch at least two H3s per year. The rocket was scheduled to launch another QSZ satellite, as well as Japan’s HTV-X cargo spacecraft, in 2026. Japan’s Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission is also scheduled to launch in late 2026 on an H3 rocket.
However, the unusual payload fairing separation may force the space agency to delay its plans.
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