Japan's new H3 rocket rescheduled to lift off on Tuesday

Japan's new flagship H3 rocket is to be launched on Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, aborted a launch attempt on February 17 due to a system malfunction.

JAXA explained that a control system detected an abnormality just prior to the launch. Agency officials say the cause of the malfunction has been determined, and measures have been taken to deal with the problem.

Late Monday afternoon, the rocket was moved from the vehicle assembly to the launch pad after being mounted on a mobile launcher.

The H3 is the first large rocket that Japan has developed in around 30 years. It was initially slated to blast off in fiscal 2020. But its launch was pushed back due partly to difficulties with the development of the new main engine.

The scheduled lift-off is at 10:37 a.m. on Tuesday, local time.