A Japanese startup’s space rocket took flight on Wednesday, but the business reported that the launch attempt had failed after it was later spotted spiraling downhill in the distance.
After the first effort in March ended in a mid-air explosion, this was Space One’s second attempt to become the nation’s first private company to launch a satellite into orbit.
Five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others created by Japanese students and businesses, were being carried by its solid-fuel Kairos rocket this time.
Television cameras captured the dismay of spectators gathering close to the company’s Spaceport Kii launch pad on the coast of western Wakayama, Japan.
“I’m so shocked,” one woman said after the firm announced the failure. “I had been hoping it would go into orbit.”
According to news accounts, the white, slender 18-meter (60-foot) rocket shot high into the sky.
Unlike in March, when mechanical issues caused the rocket carrying a small government test satellite to be ordered to self-destruct seconds after launch, there was no spectacular explosion this time.
Space One announced that it would explain its most recent setback at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“Kairos was launched… but the rocket terminated its flight after judging that the achievement of its mission would be difficult,” the company said in a statement, adding that the details were under investigation.
In 2018, the government-run Development Bank of Japan, Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, and the construction company Shimizu formed Space One.
In order to meet the quickly growing demand worldwide, it plans to set up a satellite-launching business.
Private businesses claim to be able to provide more frequent and less expensive space exploration chances than governments.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has agreements with the Pentagon and NASA, is the model that Space One aspires to follow.
Another goal of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is to establish itself as a significant player in satellite launches.
JAXA’s next-generation H3 launch system had experienced multiple failed take-off attempts before a successful blast-off in February.
Also this year, Japan landed an unmanned probe on the Moon albeit at a crooked angle making it just the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface.
But JAXA had to delay the launch of a compact, solid-fuel Epsilon S rocket after a recent engine test resulted in a large fire.
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