Japan’s Space One Kairos rocket explodes on inaugural flight

Kairos, a small, solid-fuel rocket made by Japan’s Space One, exploded shortly after its inaugural launch on Wednesday as the firm tried to become the first Japanese company to put a satellite in orbit.

The 18-meter rocket exploded seconds after lifting off at 11:01 a.m. leaving behind a large cloud of smoke, a fire, fragments of the rocket and firefighting water sprays near the launch pad, visible on local media livestreams, Reuters reported.

Space One said it “terminated the flight” after the launch on the tip of mountainous Kii peninsula in western Japan and was investigating flight data.

Shuhei Kishimoto, governor of local Wakayama government, told reporters after being briefed by Space One that a problem triggered the autonomous flight-termination system.

He did not specify what the problem was. There were no injuries near the launch pad, and the fire has been extinguished, Kishimoto added.

Kairos carried an experimental government satellite that can temporarily replace intelligence satellites in orbit if they fall offline.

Although Japan is a relatively small player in the space race, the nation’s rocket developers are scrambling to build cheaper vehicles to capture booming demand for satellite launches from its government and from global clients.