Japan’s attempt to launch a Space One rocket ends in a fiery explosion

A startup called Space One fired a rocket earlier in hopes of becoming the first private entity in Japan to put a satellite into orbit. Unfortunately, his experience ended in a fiery explosion, just seconds after liftoff at 11 a.m. local time. Its 60-foot-long Kairos rocket launched from the company’s Kii Space Port in Wakayama, a prefecture south of Osaka in Japan’s Kansai region. Space One Director Mamoru Endo told reporters at a conference that the rocket’s automated system detected an anomaly five seconds after liftoff and activated its self-destruct function. The company has yet to figure out what the anomaly is and will investigate the incident for answers.

Kairos carried a payload for the Cabinet Office’s Satellite Intelligence Center, which collects and analyzes imagery information for the Japanese government. This satellite was supposed to be an alternative to an existing Japanese satellite to monitor military installations and missile launches from North Korea. Masakazu Toyoda, the company’s president, said during the conference that Space One is “ready to take on the next challenge.” He also highlighted how common launch failures are in space travel. And it’s true – SpaceX, for example, has lost several Starship vehicles over the past few years when they blew up during testing.

Space One, backed by Canon and aerospace manufacturer IHI, eventually hopes to offer satellite launch services using small rockets that says “offer more scheduling flexibility than large.” It also aims to provide “the world’s shortest time from contractual commitment to launch, as well as the world’s most frequent launch schedule,” while minimizing the cost of putting satellites into orbit. Since the company needs to be able to stage a successful launch before customers come knocking on its doors, it will most likely announce its next endeavor in the near future.

Last year, Japan’s ispace also failed to become the first private company to land on the moon after losing contact with its Hakuto-R lander. But the country’s space agency, JAXA, is doing better than its private partners: its SLIM lunar module successfully landed in January and is expected to resume operations at the end of March after the end of the moonlit night.