Improvements on the rocket boosters that caused the failure last November are almost complete and a science ministry report is to be finalized Monday paving the way for the next launch, Kyodo news agency and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

A spokesman for the space agency could not be reached for confirmation.

In November Japan had to destroy its sixth H-2A rocket just 10 minutes after lift-off as one of its two rocket boosters failed to separate from the fuselage in the second phase of the flight.

A hole in the nozzle was reported to have caused a fuel gas leak, preventing the booster from separating from the main rocket body.

The failed launch of the H-2A rocket, which is central to Japan's space program, could cast a shadow over the country's ambitions to lead Asia's space race, especially following China's successful manned space flight in October, experts have warned.

Japan has sent up five domestically developed H-2A rockets and aims to double its payload capacity in about four years under a 20-billion-yen (180-million-dollar) project.

The fifth launch of the H-2A rocket in March carried the nation's first spy satellites to monitor North Korea.

Japan's spy satellite project, worth 250 billion yen, was intended as a response to North Korea's firing of a suspected Taepodong ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in August 1998 -- a move that sent shockwaves around the region.

SPACE.WIRE