Japan | Major fire at a rocket launch base

(Tokyo) The Japanese space program experienced another hitch on Tuesday, when a major fire broke out during engine tests on a rocket Epsilon S solid fuel in the south of the archipelago, without apparently causing any injuries.

Fireballs and white smoke rose into the sky from the Tanegashima launch base, according to spectacular images broadcast by public broadcaster NHK.

“There was an abnormality during today’s combustion test. We are trying to establish what happened,” the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) said in a statement sent to AFP.

“No injuries have been reported at this time. The causes [de l’incident] are also under investigation,” she added.

Journalists positioned about 900 meters from the site reported a large explosion 30 seconds after the test burn began at 8:30 a.m. local time (6:30 p.m. [heure de l’Est] Monday). What appeared to be a burning object flew toward the sea, according to NHK.

Japanese daily newspaper Asahi reports for its part that JAXA’s project to launch the rocket Epsilon S – the successor of theEpsilon – by next March now seems almost impossible.

The space agency, which succeeded last January in landing an unmanned probe on the moon, making Japan only the fifth country to achieve such a feat, has however suffered several setbacks in recent years in its rocket programs.

In July 2023, an engine of theEpsilon S had exploded during a test, approximately 50 seconds after ignition.

“With theEpsilon Srocket development is extremely important for the independence of Japan’s space development program,” Japanese government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday.

Successes and pitfalls

Last February, JAXA succeeded in getting the H3its new flagship rocket supposed to allow Japan to compete in particular with the Falcon 9 from the American SpaceX.

But this attempt followed a failure in February 2023, when the machine co-developed with the Japanese group Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) was unable to take off due to a problem with the ignition of its boosters. .

Then, during a second attempt in March 2023, the rocket initially successfully took off, before deviating from its trajectory due to a failure of the second stage engines. JAXA was forced to destroy it in mid-flight.

A rocket from a private Japanese company also exploded in March 2024, a few seconds after its launch.

Baptized Kairos and 18 meters high, this solid fuel rocket from the young company Space One, based in Tokyo, took off with a small satellite from the Japanese government on board.

But seconds after launch, the rocket turned into a ball of fire, with thick smoke filling the launch site and flaming debris from the craft falling onto the surrounding slopes.

Following the announcement of the fire Tuesday at the Tanegashima base, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) fell more than 4% around 11:45 p.m. (Eastern time) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the title of Japanese jet maker IHI dropped nearly 5%.