Japan's Space One Kairos Rocket Explodes Moments After Inaugural Flight

Japan's Space One Kairos rocket exploded after its inaugural flight on Wednesday amid efforts of the agency to become the first company in the country to put a satellite into orbit.

The Kairos rocket explosion occurred a few seconds after lift-off and left behind a large cloud of smoke, a fire, fragments of the rocket, and firefighting water sprays near the launch pad, visible on local media videos.

Kairos Rocket Explodes

Space One's Kairos rocket is launched before it explodes after liftoff from a launch paid in Kushimoto, Wakayama prefecture, western Japan, Wednesday, March 13, 2024
(Photo : Kyodo News via AP)

The company later said that the flight was "interrupted" after the launch on the tip of the mountainous Kii peninsula in western Japan and officials said that they are now investigating the situation. There was no immediate indication as to what caused the sudden explosion of the rocket.

The governor of the local Wakayama government, Shuhei Kishimoto, said that fortunately, there were no injuries that were reported near the launch pad and that the fire had already been extinguished.

Following the incident, Space One said that the launch of the Kairos rocket was highly automated and only required roughly half a dozen staff at the ground control center, according to Reuters.

The rocket was carrying an experimental government satellite that is capable of temporarily replacing intelligence satellites in orbit in the event that they fall offline. Additionally, Space One had planned the launch of the rocket for Saturday but it was postponed due to a ship entering the nearby restricted sea area.

While Japan is a relatively small player in the space race, the Asian country's rocket developers are scrambling to build cheaper vehicles in an effort to capture the demand for satellite launches from its government as well as from global clients.

The company, which is based in Tokyo, was established in 2018 by a consortium of Japanese companies, including Canon Electrics, the aerospace engineering unit of IHI, construction firm Shimizu, and the state-backed Development Bank of Japan.

Japan's Space Ambitions

The Kairos rocket explosion appeared to have occurred around the middle of the fuselage and the company said that the flight was intentionally terminated. The 18-meter long, 23-ton rocket was planned to be inserted into orbit roughly 500 kilometers above the Earth's surface, said Nikkei Asia.

Space One previously touted its Kairos rocket as being capable of putting a 150-kilogram payload into sun-synchronous orbit or a 250-kilogram payload into low Earth orbit. On top of the three solid-fuel stages, the Kairos has an additional liquid fuel "kick stage" that would inject the payload into its trajectory more accurately.

The company initially sought to conduct its first rocket launch in fiscal 2021 but was forced to delay the attempts five times since. Officials cited delays in procuring parts amid the coronavirus pandemic as well as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Hokkaido-based Interstellar Technologies in May 2019 sent Japan's first privately developed rocket into space. However, that particular spacecraft was not carrying a satellite payload, unlike the recent Kairos mission.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) succeeded last month in launching its next-generation H3 rocket. This would provide a much-needed boost to the Asian country's satellite-launching and space exploration ambitions following the failure of its first model almost a year ago, according to the Japan Times.