There were five additional H-II launches leading to Monday s failure. An eighth and final booster, vehicle no. 7, was planned for launch next year carrying the MDS-1 spacecraft and a tracking satellite. Cost becomes an issue Monday s failure marked the first time the LE-7 engine had a serious malfunction. It was also the first time in the history of the Japanese space program that a rocket blew up in flight, and the first time a Japanese engineer had to send the distruct command to a launch vehicle. While a major technological break-through for Japan s program, the rocket became vastly expensive to build and fly.
Costly boosters limit the funding available to build satellites.
But the expense of the H-II also blocked Japanese government plans to commercialize the rocket, offering it for sale on the world s launch market. A commercial company was established in the early 1990 s to try and sell the rockets. Japan, while serious about building its own fleet of science and research satellites dependent upon the H-II, also wanted a commercially viable launch vehicle to sell to the world. This newer launcher would be developed in two phases. But the new vehicle would cost substantially less to build, would feature advanced manufacturing techniques and simplified onboard systems.