Japan’s private rocket maker Space One fails at third Kairos launch

TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) – Japan’s Space One said its ‌Kairos rocket terminated its flight ‌after lift-off on Thursday, failing to ​achieve the country’s first entirely commercial satellite launch on its third attempt in a ‌row.

Kairos “terminated the ⁠flight after judging that the achievement of its ⁠mission would be difficult… We are currently investigating the details,” ​the company ​said ​in a statement.

The ‌18-metre (59 ft) solid-propellant rocket carried five experimental satellites, including from Japanese companies and the Taiwan Space Agency.

Space One, the joint ‌venture backed by ​optical electronics maker ​Canon, ​aerospace giant IHI, builder ‌Shimizu and banks, ​previously launched ​two Kairos rockets from its Pacific coast site in ​2024 ‌but neither could successfully deploy ​payloads.

(Reporting by Kantaro KomiyaEditing ​by Chang-Ran Kim)