Japan rocket that was supposed to have launched a satellite into orbit instead fell to the ocean. Japan's efforts to develop low-cost satellite have been handed a blow. The country's space agency was forced to abort the launch midflight leading the rocket to crash into the waters. This was brought about by communications problem during the flight.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said that they had trouble receiving data from the rocket. This was the first failure for Japan to launch a rocket carrying a satellite since 2003. The mini rocket was only 10 meters long and 50cm in diameter. It was launched in Uchinoura Space Center in Southern Japan.
The three staged rocket launched successfully however data transmission such as position of the rocket and its temperature stopped during the first stage of the launch. JAXA had to about the second stage as there was a possibility of the rocket heading in an unexpected direction. The rocket fell to the ocean along with its satellite payload.
Hiroto Habu, associate professor at JAXA, stated that he was disappointed. Professor Habu lead the development of the rocket at JAXA. According to him, they will study and will identify what the cause of the problem was. The failure of the launch will not affect Japan's main rocket industry because the mini rocket was built using different components and technologies.
The rocket developed by JAXA's institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) built the SS-520 rocket. It only weights 2600 kilograms using off-the-shelf components and carbon reinforced polymer body tube. The rocket was designed to perform observations during suborbital flight, it could also carry small satellites. The Japan rocket was on its third mission and was carrying a 3-kilogram microsatellite developed by a team from the University of Tokyo to conduct observations for one month before falling back into the atmosphere. The mission budget was reportedly at $4.4 million according to a report by the Science.
Sinichi Nakasuka, a professor at University of Tokyo who worked on developing the satellite on board the mini rocket stated that it is important that they continue with their effort and it is crucial that they tackle the challenges ahead. Akira Sawaoka, a rocket expert who is the president of Daido University stated that it was an elementary mistake. The science ministry is expected to decide if low cost rockets are worth pursuing after examining the report from JAXA as reported in Nikkei Asian Review.
