Xinhua reported that the No. 3 unit of the company's Kairos rocket was launched at about 11:10 a.m. local time from Space Port Kii, a privately operated facility in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, but its flight was terminated during the ascent phase, marking another launch failure after two launches in 2024.
In a statement, Space One said Kairos aborted the flight after assessing that achieving the mission would be difficult, and that it was investigating the details of the incident.
The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday (March 4), but was canceled shortly before liftoff.
The 18-meter-long, 23-ton solid-fuel rocket was carrying five satellites, which were scheduled to be released and placed into orbit about 50 minutes after liftoff, at an altitude of about 500 kilometers.
Founded in 2018, the Tokyo-based company has had two failed rocket launch attempts. The first Kairos rocket exploded about five seconds after liftoff in March 2024 due to an error in its thrust estimation.
Meanwhile, the flight of the second unit that same year ended in self-destruction after altitude control problems occurred.
