Tokyo: The Space One rocket exploded in mid-air - Japan's third failed attempt. Japan's Space One company revealed that its small Kairos rocket automatically self-destructed just 69 seconds after liftoff today, marking the third consecutive failure in the country's attempt to launch a full-fledged commercial satellite.
According to Thai News Agency, the Kairos rocket, an 18-meter-long solid-fuel rocket, carried five experimental satellites, including those from Tokyo-based ArkEdge Space and the Taiwan Space Agency. The system automatically terminated at an altitude of 29 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean.
Nobuhiro Sekino, vice president of Space One, stated in a press release that no significant abnormalities were found in the flight or onboard equipment prior to the self-destruction, indicating that the rocket's automatic flight termination system may have malfunctioned.
Live footage showed the Kairos rocket exhibiting an unstable trajectory for two minutes after launching from the company's private launch pad on the Kii Peninsula in western Japan.
Space One, a joint venture between optical electronics manufacturer Canon, aerospace giant IHI, construction company Shimizu, and other Japanese companies, has attempted to launch the Kairos rocket twice in 2024, but both attempts failed.