
A rocket from a private Japanese company exploded seconds after launch. The Tokyo Space One start-up aimed to be the first private Japanese company to launch a satellite into orbit.
The Kairos rocket lifted off from the launch pad located in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, but seconds after launch it exploded, generating black smoke that spread around the site and with burning debris falling on the surrounding mountainsides.
The footage was broadcast live by NHK. In a statement, Space One said that "the details of the malfunction are being investigated."
Space One was founded in 2018 by a team that includes major Japanese technology companies, including Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, construction firm Shimizu and the government-controlled Development Bank of Japan.
Last July, another Japanese missile, the Epsilon S, exploded during a test, about 50 seconds after firing its engines in the northern prefecture of Akita. In January, however, Japan's space agency (Jaxa) announced the successful launch of its new H3 rocket from the Tanegashima space center, southwest of the archipelago, after years of delays and two failed attempts.
The operation followed the successful landing of an unmanned probe on the moon, also in January, which put Japan among a select group of 5 countries in the world to have successfully landed on the lunar surface, after Russia, the United States , China and India.