The M-5 Rocket, also called Mu-5 is a Japanese solid fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites. The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) began developing the M-5 in 1990 at a cost of 15 billion yen. It has three stages and is 30.7 meters high, 2.5 meters in diameter, and weighs about 140 tons. It is capable of launching a satellite weighing 1.8 tons into an orbit as high as 250 km. It is among the world's largest and most advanced solid fuel rockets.
The first M-5 rocket launched the HALCA radio astronomy satellite in 1997, and the second the Nozomi Mars explorer in July 1998. The third rocket attempted to launch the Astro-E X-ray satellite on February 10, 2000 but failed.
ISAS recovered from this setback and launched Hayabusa to 25143 Itokawa in 2003.
The next M-5 launch is the scientific Astro-E2 satellite.
M-5 flights
| Date (UTC) | Flight | Payload | Result
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| 12.02.1997 04:50:00 | M-5-1 | Muses B (HALCA) | Success
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| 03.07.1998 18:12:00 | M-5-3 | Planet B (Nozomi) | Success
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| 10.02.2000 01:30:00 | M-5-4 | Astro E | Failure
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| 09.05.2003 04:29:25 | M-5-5 | Muses C (Hayabusa) | Success
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Last updated: 06-01-2005 20:34:18
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