Japan’s Space One Kairos rocket exploded shortly after launch on its inaugural trip on Wednesday as the firm tried to become the first Japanese company to put a satellite in orbit.
The 18-meter (59 ft), four-stage solid-fuel rocket exploded seconds after lifting off just after 11:01 a.m. (0201 GMT), leaving behind a large cloud of smoke and a fire near the launch pad on the tip of Kii peninsula in western Japan.
Kairos carried an experimental government satellite that can temporarily replace intelligence satellites currently in orbit if they fall offline.
The rocket terminated the flight after judging that “the achievement of its mission would be difficult”, Space One president Masakazu Toyoda said. The company did not specify what triggered self-destruction after the first-stage engine ignited – or when it would launch the next Kairos – only saying it would launch an investigation into the explosion.
(Source: Reuters)
