Japanese startup Space One has made its second attempt to launch Japan’s first private rocket, Kairos. The first attempt in March of this year ended with the rocket self-destructing 5 seconds after launch. The second attempt, made today, also ended in a rocket explosion, but at an altitude of over 100 km, 3 minutes after launch, which shows obvious progress. At a minimum, the rocket reached space, the boundary of which lies precisely at an altitude of 100 km.
Image source: Kiodo News
Time will pass and Kairos will be able to fly without accidents, also relying on the experience gained from current failures. The startup Space One was created in 2018 by Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace Engineering, Shimizu and the Development Bank of Japan. The goal of Space One and its support team was to create Japan’s first privately owned rocket to launch commercial satellites with a frequency of up to 20 flights per year. For comparison, the public sector, represented by the JAXA agency and rocket manufacturers Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI, are planning only up to 6 launches per year of the new heavy H3 rocket and a small number of launches of the much smaller and also new Epsilon rocket.
Space One’s Kairos rocket will reduce and even eliminate a significant portion of Japan’s dependence on foreign operators and allow the country to become one of the world leaders in rocket science.
Space One said it was investigating the cause of an accident during a March launch in which a military spy satellite was lost. Then an error crept into the calculations for the design of the first stage rocket engine. Since today the flight lasted 3 minutes longer, the first stage engine has definitely become better, although the cause of the accident will again have to be looked for in it. At an altitude of 100 km, the rocket spiraled and went off course, and had to be blown up. Five small satellites were lost, including one made in Taiwan.