On the 13th, the Japanese commercial aerospace company SPACE ONE launched a small solid fuel rocket from the Jiyi Space Launch Site in Wakayama Prefecture. The rocket exploded seconds after liftoff.

This is the first time that Japanese private enterprises try to use their own rockets to transport satellites to the sky. The live broadcast showed that at 11:01 local time (10:01 Beijing time) on the 13th, the "KAIROS" rocket 1 carrying a small satellite was launched from the Jiyi space launch site as scheduled, but the rocket exploded and disintegrated in the air a few seconds after liftoff, and the fallen rocket debris burned out thick smoke. No injuries have been reported.

The full name of the "Kellos" rocket is "the advanced real-time rocket system based on Jiyi". It adopts a four stage series configuration, consisting of three stage solid stage and one stage liquid stage. It is about 18 meters long, 1.35 meters in diameter, and weighs about 23 tons. Its low Earth orbit carrying capacity is 250 kg, and the sun synchronous orbit carrying capacity is 150 kg.

"Space-1" company hopes to build this rocket into the shortest space carrier in the world from signing a contract to launching. The "Kellos" rocket 1 was originally planned to launch in March 2022, but the rocket parts could not be delivered in time due to insufficient semiconductor materials and other reasons, and the launch was delayed several times. The launch was originally scheduled to take place on 9 this month, but the launch was urgently stopped due to the discovery of ships in the sea warning area near the launch site.

In 2019, a Japanese private enterprise headquartered in Hokkaido launched a sounding rocket and successfully reached a height of more than 100 kilometers from the earth. This was the first successful launch of a rocket developed by a Japanese private enterprise, but the rocket did not carry a payload at that time.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Edited by Xie Yutong

Second instance Chen Chaohui

Third review Yang Yi