Satellite launch fails: Japanese company’s rocket explodes shortly after launch

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In Japan, a private company’s satellite launch failed and the launch vehicle exploded. As Japanese media report, the 18-meter Cairo launch vehicle self-destructed on Wednesday shortly after launch for an initially unknown reason.

Tokyo-based company Space One wanted to be the first private company to send a satellite into space from Japan’s Space Port Kii commercial spaceport in Kushimoto in western Wakayama Prefecture. The reason for the failed launch is being investigated, it is said.

Good luck to the state space agency

In contrast, Japan’s state space agency Jaxa recently successfully launched the new H3 launch vehicle after an initial failure. The rocket lifted off last month from Japan’s state spaceport Tanegashima in the southwest of the Far Eastern island kingdom, carrying a dummy satellite and two small satellites.

With the restart, space organization Jaxa wanted to remove doubts about the reliability of the new launch vehicle. During a first launch attempt last year, the engine of the second rocket stage failed to ignite. Since the mission had no chance of success, the self-destruction was initiated shortly after take-off.

The H3 is the successor to the reliable H2A rocket and Japan’s first new development of its own large launch vehicle in about 30 years. The H3 is considered more powerful, cheaper and safer than the H2A, which is expected to be phased out in the new fiscal year starting April 1. (SDA/no)

Source: Blick