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Private Japanese smallsat rocket fails at launch

Capitalism in space: The second test flight of a private Japanese smallsat rocket company, Interstellar Technologies, today failed immediately at launch.

A rocket developed by a Japanese startup company burst into flames seconds after a failed liftoff Saturday in northern Japan.

The MOMO-2 rocket, developed by Interstellar Technologies, was launched in Taiki town on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. It was supposed to reach as high as 100 kilometers (62 miles) into space. Television footage showed that the 10-meter (33-foot) pencil rocket lifted only slightly from its launch pad before dropping to the ground, disappearing in a fireball. Footage on NHK public television showed a charred rocket lying on the ground.

The incident caused no injuries.

Rocket science is hard. Competition and freedom carries risks. This company might not be dead, but this failure is definitely a significant setback.

Posted from Belize.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

3 comments

  • wayne

    Early American Rocket Failures
    https://youtu.be/g79K-R7xTFo
    4:42

  • wayne

    pretty good period-piece (skip to the 10:00 mark for the actual launch & summary of all the stuff that worked great.) >This is how you turn lemon’s, into lemonade.
    “…each successful second of test-time, yields vital facts…”

    “First Atlas Launch & Blowup 1957-06-11 Convair Astronautics-US Air Force; 1st US ICBM Test”
    https://youtu.be/_WP0wbeSce8
    13:24

    “First launch of an Atlas missile at Cape Canaveral is shown from four different camera angles in this contractor’s progress report. After engine failures, the Atlas explodes when the destruct signal is sent by the Range Safety Officer.”

  • Anthony Domanico

    I’m really sorry in advance, but… they should rename this rocket Mini Antares. Again, sorry, and I wish Interstellar Technologies success.

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