Japan's Space One Kairos rocket fails minutes into flight

Japan's Space One terminated the flight of its Kairos small rocket shortly after liftoff on Wednesday, marking the failure of its second attempt in nine months to become the first Japanese company to deliver a satellite to space using a privately developed rocket, News.az reports citing Reuters.

It is the latest in a series of recent setbacks for Japanese rocket development, even as the government pushes for 30 rocket launches annually and an 8 trillion yen ($52 billion) space industry by the early 2030s to make Japan Asia's space hub.

The Kairos rocket self-destructed about three minutes into the flight, after it detected abnormalities in the first-stage engine nozzle control and the rocket's trajectory, Space One director Mamoru Endo said at a briefing.

Live images from the local Wakayama prefecture government had shown the 18-metre (59 ft) solid-propellant rocket blasting off from Spaceport Kii in western Japan at 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) but whirling during its ascent.

The cause of the failure remains unclear and requires further investigation, Endo said, adding that Kairos probably flew to an altitude of more than 100 km (62 miles) until the self-destruct system kicked in.

Five small satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency, were on board the rocket, which was headed into sun-synchronous orbit roughly 500 km (311 miles) above the Earth's surface.

Tokyo-based Space One was founded in 2018 by Canon Electronics (7739.T), opens new tab, IHI's (7013.T), opens new tab aerospace unit, construction firm Shimizu (1803.T), opens new tab and a state-backed bank, with the goal of launching 20 small rockets a year by 2029 to capture growing satellite launch demand.

Inappropriate flight settings triggered the rocket's autonomous self-destruct system even though no issues were found in its hardware, Space One later said.

"We don't see what happened this time as a failure," company president Masakazu Toyoda told reporters on Wednesday, repeating the phrase he used in March. He added that the data from the failed launch would be useful for a third mission and that another attempt was on the cards.

News.Az