A Japanese rocket was intentionally exploded seconds after launching Wednesday morning.
Space One, a company offering space courier services to its clients, planned to be Japan’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit with the launch of the 59-foot-tall Kairos spacecraft from the Kii Peninsula. But about five seconds after takeoff, the rocket was detonated, leading to a raging fire, scattered debris and a plume of smoke engulfing the skies.
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“The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the achievement of its mission would be difficult,” Space One President Masakazu Toyoda said afterward. “We are taking what happened in a positive way and remain prepared to take up the next challenge.”
The fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported on the launch pad, Reuters reported.
The highly-automated launch self-destructs when it detects errors in the flight path, control systems or other issues that could lead to a crash that endangers people, according to Space One. It’s unclear what problem was detected.
The company said it will investigate the incident, but didn’t specify when the probe would be complete or when it would launch another Kairos rocket.
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“We don’t use the world ‘failure,’ because each trial brings us … new data and experience for another challenge,” Toyoda said at the news conference. He said space travel takes multiple failures before success.
The Japanese rocket carried an experimental government satellite that could replace existing intelligence satellites in orbit if they malfunctioned, Reuters reported. Part of its mission would be to monitor potential dangers from North Korean rocket launches, The Associated Press reported.
The Kairos rocket was supposed to launch last Saturday but was postponed after a ship entered an area restricted for takeoff.
Space One was established in 2018. The Tokyo-based company eventually hopes to offer space services and travel.
