A Japanese company named Space One launched a rocket with the intention of launching a satellite into orbit, but it exploded seconds after launch.
On Wednesday, an 18-meter Kairos rocket carrying a small government test satellite took off from the company’s launch pad in the western Japanese area of Wakayama. However, the rocket burst into a ball of flame moments after take-off, engulfing the launch site with black smoke. Sprinklers started spraying water as burning debris fell onto the nearby slopes. Hundreds of people who witnessed that assembled nearby waterfronts and other public locations.
As SpaceX has shown, early rocket system failures are normal, if not expected, in attempts to develop new and better rocket systems. Nevertheless, Japan’s attempts to break into the potentially rich commercial satellite launch business have been severely hampered by the Space One disaster.
The satellite known as Kairos, which is derived from the ancient Greek phrase meaning “the right moment” was supposed to enter orbit roughly 51 minutes after take-off at a time. According to reports, Space One had to repeatedly postpone the launch of Kairos due to shortages of parts and other issues; the most recent delay occurred on Saturday. A group of significant Japanese tech companies, including Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, Shimizu Construction, and the government-owned Development Bank of Japan, founded Space One in 2018.
Another Japanese rocket, the solid-fuel Epsilon S, detonated during testing in July of last year, just 50 seconds after it was ignited. However, following years of delays and two unsuccessful attempts, Japan’s space agency, JAXA, celebrated a successful launch of its new flagship rocket, the H3, last month.
