Lambda is the name of a series of Japanese

carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

s. It consisted of the types Lambda 2, LS-A, LSC-3, Lambda 3, Lambda 4 and LS-C, developed jointly by Institute of Industrial Science of

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of

Tokyo University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, and

Prince Motor Company The Prince Motor Company ( Japanese: ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g. ...

, which merged with

Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...

in 1966. On February 11, 1970, the first Japanese

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 radioiso ...

Ohsumi was launched using a Lambda 4 rocket. Lambda series rockets did not have

guidance systems A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...

, as they had the potential to be converted for offensive military use, thus interpreted as a violation of

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is a clause in the national Constitution of Japan outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on 3 May 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces th ...

. However, future Japanese launch vehicles, such as the H-II, were allowed to have guidance systems. The Lambda 4 was launched nine times, though five were failures. The first launch of the

Lambda 4S The Lambda 4S or L-4S was an experimental Japanese expendable carrier rocket. It was produced by Nissan and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and launched five times between 1966 and 1970 with Ohsumi technology demonstration satell ...

rocket took place on September 26, 1966, from

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

. A fourth-stage attitude control failed resulting in loss of the vehicle and payload. The last launch date was September 1, 1974.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20121022140407/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/lambda.htm Solid-fuel rockets Space launch vehicles of Japan Rocket families Japanese inventions {{rocket-stub