The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is making final preparations to send the country's new flagship H3 rocket into space after a failed inaugural launch last year.

The rocket was moved on Friday to the launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima. The H3 is due to lift off at 9:22 a.m. on Saturday. The agency says weather conditions are unlikely to cause problems.

The first H3 rocket was launched in March last year. But its second-stage engine failed to ignite and the rocket was ordered to self-destruct.

Officials have identified the causes of the failure and stepped up inspections of components to prevent another aborted launch.

This time they aim to have the second-stage engine ignite as planned and send the rocket into orbit.

The agency also plans to simulate a maneuver to release a satellite from the rocket.

The agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries started development of the H3 rocket 10 years ago as the successor of the current mainstay H2A.

The H3 is the first large rocket Japan has developed in 30 years. The project has cost more than 200 billion yen, or about 1.33 billion dollars.

The H3 will determine the course of Japan's space development amid international competition in the space industry that has been intensifying with the entry of private enterprises.