"It is true that we are negotiating," Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman Hiroyuki Yamakado said.

The three rival firms are negotiating details of a scheme that would allow them to make rockets available to each other for their customers' convenience, the official said without elaborating further.

Until now, the launch contractor has provided a replacement when it fails in a rocket launch, causing a delay and trouble for customers.

The Asahi daily said the rockets to be covered by the scheme would be the H2-A built by Mitsubishi, Ariane-5 by the European consortium and Boeing's Sea-Launch.

The client company of any one of the three would be able to switch to a back-up rocket to be launced by either of the other two, the paper said in its evening edition.

SPACE.WIRE