Towering flames and white fumes engulfed an Epsilon S rocket of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during a failed combustion test in southern Japan last month. - Photo: Reuters
TOKYO (AFP): Japan's space agency has said its plan to launch a solid-fuel rocket by the end of March is now impossible, after a recent engine test resulted in a large fire.
Towering flames and white fumes engulfed an Epsilon S rocket of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during a failed combustion test in southern Japan last month.
The compact rocket is being developed to carry satellites into orbit and JAXA says on its website it is "designed to lower the threshold to space".
The agency had previously warned November's aborted combustion test, caused by a technical abnormality, could impact the mission timeline.
After a further probe officials now say Epsilon S will not be launched by the end of March, as originally scheduled.
"Realistically speaking, we think it is impossible to launch by the end of this fiscal year", senior JAXA official Masashi Okada told a news conference on Thursday.
"As we continue to investigate the cause (behind the fire), we will revise the schedule accordingly," Okada said.
In a separate incident in July 2023, one engine of an Epsilon S also exploded around 50 seconds after a test ignition.
It was one in a string of setbacks for Japan's space programme, including multiple failed take-off attempts for its next-generation H3 launch system.
In February JAXA managed a successful blast-off for the H3, mooted as a rival to SpaceX's Falcon 9.
But that followed an unsuccessful attempt in February 2023 when the ignition process failed. The following month JAXA was forced to send a self-destruct command to a H3 shortly after take-off. - AFP
