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,” said the Japan Space Agency (Jaxa). “No injuries have been reported at this time. The causes (of the incident) are also being investigated.”
Journalists stationed about 900 meters from the site reported a large explosion 30 seconds after the combustion test began. What appeared to be an object on fire flew towards the sea. The Japanese daily Asahi reports that Jaxa's plan to launch the Epsilon S rocket – the successor to the Epsilon – by next March now seems almost impossible.
Several setbacks
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 Epsilon S engine exploded during a test, approximately 50 seconds after ignition. “With the Epsilon S, rocket development is extremely important for the independence of Japan's space development program,” Japanese government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday.
Jaxa managed to launch the H3 last February, its new flagship rocket intended 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. The Jaxa had been forced to destroy it in mid-flight.
