Japanese Commerical Rocket Self-Destructs 5 Seconds After Liftoff
Four Japanese investors and Canon Electronics banded together to develop the commercial rocket with the goal of providing a space transportation service which uses small rockets to launch satellites into space.
Space One, which launched in 2018, had the goal of being the first private sector company to send satellites to orbit.
The New York Post obtained footage of the 59-foot-tall spacecraft, which lifted off at 11:01 a.m. in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, per the media outlet. The launch site was located in Kushimotocho, Wakayama, Japan according to the company's launch announcement.
The explosion of the rocket, which occured five seconds afte takeoff, was designed to self-destruct in the event of malfunction.
The explosion is currently being investigated, per the company's president Masakazu Toyoda.
The Kii-based Advanced & Instant Rocket System, known as Kairos, was due to trial a government satellite that could replace intelligent satellites in orbit for a short time if they were ever knocked offline.
Flight data is currently under review. No injuries were reported to date.
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Kairos carried a satellite that would also have served as a way to gather intel from the neighboring DPRK, in addition to other sorts of information, according to 'USA Today.'
Officials including Toyoda refrained from referring to the mission as a failure. "We are taking what happened in a positive way and remain prepared to take up the next challenge," he told reporters. Toyoda also expressed his desire to offer "space courier services" to international and domestic clients.
The self-destruction of the first-ever rocket resulted in a decrease in Canon Electroinc's shares, falling more than 9% since Wednesday's explosion.
