A rocket of a private Japanese company exploded on Wednesday seconds after beginning its takeoff in the west of the country, a spectacular failure in the company’s attempts to place a satellite in orbit.
The mission of the emerging company Space One aimed to place a Japanese government satellite into orbit, something unprecedented for the country’s private aerospace industry.
The 18-meter-high “Kairos” rocket took off at 11:01 (02:01 GMT) from the Space One launch center on the Kii Peninsula, a mountainous and forested area in Wakayama prefecture.
But seconds after takeoff, the rocket turned into a fireball and thick smoke enveloped the facility, with remains of the device falling down the slopes of the surrounding hills, according to images released live.
Space One said in a statement that it had decided to “cancel the flight” and that it had opened an investigation into what happened.
“We want to accept this result with a vision for the future and undertake our next challenge,” company president Masakazu Toyoda told reporters. He insisted that Space One does not use the word “failure.”
The firm wants to “contribute to the expansion of space services” through successful satellite launches with its rockets, he added.
Burning debris fell in the surrounding area, where water sprinklers were activated, in dramatic scenes seen by hundreds of spectators who poured into public viewing areas.
Private companies like Space One play an increasingly important role in global space exploration.
In February, a Houston company landed the first American spacecraft on the moon in more than 50 years, and NASA is increasingly relying on rockets made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
But failures abound. Last year, another Japanese startup, ispace, tried in vain to become the first private company to land on the Moon.
The company said it lost contact with its ship in what it called a “forced landing.”
Source: Ambito
