Japan’s “Kairos 2” Rocket Failed during its launch due to drive control faults?

Kairos 2, rocket is made by the Japanese Private Spacecraft manufacturer, Space One and it was launched on December 18, 2024 at the Space Port Kii in Kushimoto Town. It was launched with a mission of deploying five small satellites into orbit for commercial space exploration. 

Failed Attempt

But after a few hours of the launch ( three and a half hours) the Space One’s flight monitoring team had identified the anomalies in the first stage of the engine nozzle, so the team detonated the rocket. According to the given information the rocket has traveled upto 110 km into outer space. Post disappointing incident the Space One team arranged for a press meet and the President of Space One, Toyoda Masakazu said,

“We do not consider this incident a failure. The experience and date we gained this time will serve as fuel for our next challenge. We took on the next challenge without stalling and launched Unit 2. I believe we will be able to accelerate Unit 3 as well.We want to contribute to the development of the space industry by launching a highly convenient satellite”.

Further, they have confessed that the fault was in the predictive technology method and not in the rocket. The experts of space and technology have expressed the country’s current plight where they are largely in need of small and low-cost rockets to launch the satellites. If they want to incorporate large spacecrafts like rocket H3, the cost might get doubled. To overcome this present hurdle, Space One has devoted themselves to developing a rocket  centered on solid fuel to transport and store than the large rockets.