Japanese company that emulates SpaceX fails in its attempt to launch a rocket into space

The japanese company Space One failed this Wednesday in its second attempt to launch a rocket into space and became the first private firm in the country to achieve it.

The Kairos rocket manufactured by this firm “ended its flight after judging that the success of its mission would be difficult,” Space One said in a statement.

The television broadcast showed the slim white rocket taking off from the firm’s spaceport in the Wakayama region of western Japan. However, shortly after, the ship is seen descending in a spiral in the distance.

The solid-fuel rocket carried five satellites, including one from the Taiwanese Space Agency.

Space One aims to establish a satellite launch service to meet booming global demand and emulate SpaceX, Elon Musk’s firm, which has contracts with NASA and the Pentagon.

“We do not consider this incident to be a failure,” Space One president Masakazu Toyoda told reporters.

“We believe that the data and experience obtained (…) are extremely valuable and we think they will be useful for the next challenge,” he added.

The company’s director, Mamoru Endo, explained that a technical problem that occurred 80 seconds after takeoff affected the height of the Kairos rocket.

“Our data indicates that the rocket was flying in a westerly direction, instead of the originally planned southerly direction” and it was not possible to straighten its course, Endo said.

Space One said it hopes to launch a third Kairos rocket as soon as possible, although it did not provide a specific date.

In March, in a first attempt to launch a Japanese government test satellite into orbit, the Kairos was ordered to self-destruct due to technical problems.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is also seeking to become a major player in the satellite launch market.

Its new H3 rockets experienced several failed takeoff attempts before their first successful mission in February.

Plans to test another solid-fuel rocket, the Epsilon S, were postponed after a failed engine test that caused a fire at the JAXA facility.