Japan Discovers Space is Not Easy as its Next Gen Rocket Fails on First Test Flight

Japan has been working on building next generation rockets in order to join the list of companies that are interested in space exploration.

However, their efforts so har have not been quite as successful as hoped, after their most recent rocket failed in its attempt to launch thanks to an engine issue.

Rocket Ordered to Destruct 14 Minutes Into Flight

In an effort to compete with Western initiatives – and private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX – the Japanese government has been working on rocket programs.

The H3 rocket, Japan’s first new rocket in three decades, lifted off without any issue but upon reaching space, its rocket’s second-stage engine failed to ignite.

Mission officials were then forced to manually destroy the rocket just 14 minutes into the flight, with the dramatic action captured on a live stream from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The mission to launch Japan's new flagship H3 rocket was aborted after the second-stage engine failed to ignite.https://t.co/uhpaWJx1Ze pic.twitter.com/MJd2WXp5lx

— NHK WORLD News (@NHKWORLD_News) March 7, 2023

The destruction of the rocket follows an aborted launch in February, with the debris set to crash into the Pacific ocean, east of the Philippines.

JAXA Still Hope to Field a Competitive Rocket

Some of Japan’s largest companies have already invested billions of dollars into the JAXA program.

According to Science and Technology Minister Keiko Nagaoka, the government was establishing a task force in order to investigate the failure and areas that need to be remedied in the future moving forward.

According to Hirotaka Watanabe, an expert on space policy at Osaka University:

“This will have a serious impact on Japan’s future space policy, space business and technological competitiveness.”

Rockets Planned to Eventually Supply US Lunar Station

Japan has a long list of goals and objectives that they wish to reach with their rockets, although there remains some way to go before they are able to achieve them.

One of their main long-term objectives is to be able to use their rockets to supply the US lunar station, in what appears to be a positive signal for cooperation between the two countries.

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