Space One, a Japanese company, was unsuccessful on Wednesday in its second try to launch a rocket into space and make history as the first private company in Japan to do so.
The Kairos rocket made by the company “concluded its journey after determining that achieving its mission goals would be challenging,” Space One stated.
The TV transmission aired the rocket’s launch from the company’s space facility in the Wakayama region of western Japan. However, soon after, the rocket was seen spiraling downward.
The solid fuel rocket transported five satellites, one of which belonged to the Taiwan Space Agency.
Space One seeks to create a satellite launch service to fulfill the increasing global need and follow in the footsteps of SpaceX, the company led by Elon Musk, that holds agreements with Nasa and the Pentagon.
“We do not view this event as a failure,” stated Masakazu Toyoda, president of Space One.
“We think the information and knowledge gained (…) are very valuable and we believe they will be beneficial for the upcoming task,” he stated.
A technical issue arose 80 seconds after liftoff, impacting the altitude of the Kairos rocket, as stated by Mamoru Endo, a company executive.
“Our data suggests that the rocket was traveling towards the west instead of the initially planned south direction, and there was no opportunity to change its course,” Endo stated.
Space One announced that it plans to launch a third Kairos rocket in the near future without specifying a date.
In March, Kairos was instructed to destroy itself during the first try to launch a Japanese government test satellite into space because of technical issues.
JAXA aims to have a significant impact on the satellite launch industry.
The new rockets H3 experienced multiple unsuccessful launch tries before their initial successful flight in February.
The testing of a new solid fuel rocket, the Epsilon S, was postponed following a motor test malfunction that caused a fire at the JAXA facility.