GX was a design for an

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket sta ...

intended to compete in the commercial

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

launch sector. The system had developed by

Galaxy Express Corporation (GALEX) was a Japanese company which intended to develop the GX rocket. GALEX was established on 27 March 2001. The Japanese government finally abandoned the GX program in December 2009. GALEX disbanded around March 2010. Shareholders As o ...

, a joint venture between

IHI Corporation , formerly known as , is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbochargers ...

(IHI), the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

(JAXA),

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, a ...

(ULA),

Lockheed Martin Corporation The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is ...

(LM) and several other Japanese companies. The GX design uses a two-stage

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

. The first stage would have been the Atlas

Common Core Booster The Common Core Booster (CCB) is an American rocket stage, which is used as the first stage of the Atlas V rocket as part of its modular design. It was also intended that two additional CCBs would be used as boosters on the Atlas V Heavy, howeve ...

, currently used as the first stage of the

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture be ...

rocket, which would have been provided by United Launch Alliance. The second stage was to be a newly designed stage produced by IHI, using

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

as fuel and

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

as an oxidizer. The GX would have been the only space vehicle to use that combination of fuel and oxidizer. The Japanese government finally abandoned the GX program in December 2009. Galaxy Express disbanded around March 2010.

History

The GX program began as an effort to upgrade Japan's

J-I The J-I was a Solid-fuel rocket expendable launch vehicle developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. In an attempt to reduce development costs, it used the solid rocket boos ...

rocket, which launched only once. Thus, GX was originally known as J-II, albeit briefly. For a time, the program was termed J1-Upgrade, before finally settling on the current name in January 2003. JAXA reported that a full-scale second-stage engine had been successfully test-fired in October 2007. JAXA was developing this engine, the responsibility for which was planned to eventually be turned over to the Galaxy Express venture. In late December 2007, The

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

newspaper reported that the GX program was being subjected to a thorough review, mainly because of unexpectedly high additional costs. It also erroneously claimed that ULA partner Lockheed Martin had discontinued production of the first stage engine, thereby requiring a redesign, likely costly, to move to another engine. The paper said that the 15 billion yen that JAXA requested for the GX project was eventually slashed to 5.6 billion yen in the Fiscal 2008 budget. It was originally designed to use an Atlas III first stage, and to be launched from

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km2 in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New ...

in Japan, however this was abandoned in 2009 in favour of the CCB configuration. In May 2008, it was reported that the Space Development Committee, who are overseeing the project, were considering its cancellation. In November 2009, the Japanese

Government Administration Reform Committee A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

recommended that funding for the second-stage engine be halted. In December 2009, Japanese government decided to cancel the GX project. Development of the LNG propulsion system will continue for other projects. In January 2010, IHI determined to disband Galaxy Express. The dissolution resulted in a one-off accounting loss of 11.3 billion yen.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gx (Rocket) Space launch vehicles of Japan Atlas (rocket family)