Japan’s ambitious launch of its flagship H3 rocket resulted in a failure on Friday, and that too, while the expected launch was being live streamed. Notably, the H3 rocket is Japan’s first new medium-lift rocket in three decades. The flagship series was equipped with ALOS-3 land observation satellite and an experimental infrared sensor. H3, as was reported was capable of detecting North Korean ballistic missile launches.
However, its launch had to be aborted moments before the lift off.
Japan’s space agency confirmed that the mission was aborted moments before the launch as the main engine of H3 rocket was cut off after the launch countdown had reached zero.
Following the engine failure, the 57-metre (187 ft) rocket fell on the ground at the Tanegashima spaceport along with its observational satellite payload.
The H3 project manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Masashi Okada, expressed regret for the launch failure. While speaking with media, he said, “A lot of people have been following our progress and we are really sorry.” “It is really galling,” he added.
The rocket launch was very crucial for Japan, as the country was pushing to gain greater pastures in the space sector and seizing opportunities in the face of rival successes, one being Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
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