TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) – Japan’s new medium-lift rocket failed on its maiden spaceflight on Tuesday after the launcher’s second-stage engine failed to fire as expected, hampering its efforts to reduce the cost of access to space and compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The 57-metre (187ft) tall H3 rocket lifted off without a hitch from Tanegashima spaceport, a live broadcast from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) showed.
But upon reaching space, the rocket’s second-stage engine failed to ignite, forcing mission officials to manually destroy the vehicle.
“It was decided that the rocket could not complete its mission, so the kill command was sent,” said a JAXA launch commentator. “So what happened? This is something we will have to investigate by looking at all the data.”
The failed attempt follows an aborted launch last month.
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“Unlike the previous cancellation and postponement, this time it was a complete failure,” said Hirotaka Watanabe, a professor at Osaka University who specializes in space policy.
“It will have a serious impact on Japan’s future space policy, space activities and technological competitiveness,” he added.
Japan’s first new rocket in three decades carried the ALOS-3, an Earth observation satellite for disaster management, which was also equipped with an experimental infrared sensor designed to detect North Korean ballistic missile launches.
H3 builder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) (7011.T) said it was confirming the situation surrounding the rocket with JAXA and had no immediate comment.
MHI has estimated that the H3’s cost per launch will be half that of its predecessor, the H-II, helping it win business in a global launch market increasingly dominated by SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket. .
A company spokesperson said earlier that it also relied on the reliability of Japan’s previous rockets to win business.
In a report published in September, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated the cost of a Falcon 9 launch to low Earth orbit at $2,600 per kilogram. The equivalent price for the H-II is $10,500.
A successful launch on Tuesday would have put the Japanese rocket into space ahead of the planned launch later this year of the European Space Agency’s new lower-cost Ariane 6 vehicle.
Powered by a new, simpler and less expensive engine that includes 3D-printed parts, the H3 is designed to lift government and commercial satellites into Earth orbit and will ferry supplies to the International Space Station.
As part of Japan’s deepening cooperation with the United States in space, it will also eventually ferry cargo to the lunar Gateway space station that US space agency NASA plans to build as part of its program for returning people to the Moon, including Japanese astronauts.
Shares of MHI fell 1.8% in morning trade, while the broader Japanese benchmark (.N225) rose 0.4%.
Reporting by Tim Kelly, Maki Shiraki and Rocky Swift; Additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo and Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jamie Freed
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