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Space


M-3SII

Targeting Halley's comet which made an appearance in 1985 after 76 years, ISAS started the development of the fifth generation Mu-launch system, M-3SII in 1981. The booster is a descendant of the M-4S first flown in 1970. It used the first stage of M-3S. however, the rest of the stages were replaced by new ones to enhance its payload capability. M-3SII-1 and -2, with a fourth kick stage, sent the first and second Japanese interplanetary probes, SAKIGAKE and SUISEI in 1985 toward encountering orbit with Halley's comet. Seven launches of M-3SII Iaunch system out of eight have been successful up to now.

The only flight during 1993-1994 occurred on 20 February 1993 when the 420-kg Astro-D (aka Asuka) X- ray observatory was inserted into an orbit of 534 km by 647 km with an inclination of 31.1 degrees. The maximum lift capacity for the M-3SII is approximately 800 kg into a 250 km circular, a 31 degree orbit (References 116 and 117).

The M-3SII is a 3-stage, all solid-propellant launch vehicle with two strap-on boosters and a family of optional fourth stages which are tailor made for specific mission profiles. All four stages as well as the strap-on boosters are manufactured by the Nissan Motor Company. In addition to LEO missions, the M-3SII has placed spacecraft on Earth escape trajectories (Sakigake and Suisei in 1985) and into extremely high altitude orbits with apogees beyond lunar distances (Muses-A in 1990). The final flight of the M-3SII took place in 1995 in support of the German Japanese-Russian microgravity recoverable satellite program, EXPRESS.

M-3S-II (Japan)

Background Information
First Launch:
January 1985
Flight Rate:
Typically one every other year
Launch Site:
Uchinoura (Kagoshima), Japan
Capability:
1,720 lb to LEO; 440 lb to GEO

History

  • Japanese rocket program started in late 1950s
  • Developed and launched by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)
  • M-3S-II is latest version of the M-family of vehicles

Description

  • Three-stage solid vehicle with two strap-on boosters
  • Stage 1 burns CTPB solid propellant, generating 286,500 lb of thrust
  • Stage 2 burns HTPB composite grain fuel, generating 117,800 lb of thrust
  • Stage 3 burns HTPB composite grain fuel, generating 29,700 lb of thrust
  • Two strap-on boosters burn CTPB composite grain fuel in a SB-735 motor, generating 73,500 lb of thrust each

Profile

Length:
91.1 ft
Launch Weight:
135,700 lb
Diameter:
4.6 ft
Liftoff Thrust:
360,100 lb
Payload Fairing:
22.5 ft x 5.4 ft

The vehicle M-3SII-1 is described as follows

    1st st. SOB 2nd st. 3rd st. 4th st.
Total length m 27.785 9.140 13.1235 4.6661 2.0084
Maximum diameter m 1.650 0.735 1.650 1.495 1.400
Weight (ig.) kg 51952.6*1 10248.1 17267.2*3 4208.8 605.65
Weight (b.o.) kg 24718.9*2 2225.1 6950.2*3 910.9 185.05
Propellant weight kg 27098.0 8023.0 10317.0 3297.9 420.60
Freon kg     271.46 87.6  
Hydrazine kg       40.0  
Specific Impulse sec 266*4 266*4 282.0*4 293.1*4 284.6*4
Center of gravity (ig.) % 63.3 61.7 55.1 49.5
Center of gravity (b.o.) % 44.5 47.0 36.2 29.4
Ix (ig.) kg.m.sec2 3537.7 472.5 93.98 6.286
Ix (b.o.) kg.m.sec2 919.2 206.0 13.04 3.536
Iy (ig.) kg.m.sec2 295110.0 11754.0 304.4 14.27
Iy (b.o.) kg.m.sec2 130310.0 5019.0 124.4 6.22
Net payload kg     247.4   SA 138.1
Nozzle expansion ratio   7.80 9.13 23.24 51.84 49.00
Nozzle exit diameter mm 1270.4 725.0 1349.8 1094.4 504.0

*1:including Freon(271.46kg)
*2:including Freon(135.73kg)
*3:including Freon(87.6kg) & Hydrazine(40.0kg)
*4:in vacuum




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