Failure to launch: Japan’s Space One aborts Kairos flight after lift-off
The start-up has so far had three failed launches in its attempt to become the first Japanese private entity to put a satellite into orbit
Three months after another state-run rocket launch failure, the unsuccessful flight dealt a fresh blow to Japan’s efforts to establish domestic launch options and reduce its reliance on American rockets amid rising space-security needs to counter China.
Kairos, the 18-metre (59 ft) solid-propellant rocket, carried five experimental satellites, including from Tokyo-based ArkEdge Space and the Taiwan Space Agency. It ended the flight automatically at an altitude of 29km (18 miles) above the Pacific.
“No significant abnormalities were found in the flight or onboard equipment” before the self-destruction, Space One’s vice-president Nobuhiro Sekino told a press conference, suggesting that the rocket’s autonomous flight termination system went wrong.
Live footage showed Kairos flying on a wobbly trajectory within two minutes after blasting off from the company’s private launch pad at the tip of the Kii peninsula in western Japan.