Fire breaks out at space center during rocket test

It was 08:30 local time (00:30 Paris time) on Tuesday, November 26, when balls of fire and white smoke rose into the sky above the Japanese space center of Tanegashima, in the isolated prefecture of Kagoshima, in the southwest Japan. archipelago. This large fire, visible in images from the public television channel NHK, and which affected the facilities of the Japanese space agency (JAXA), occurred while the latter was testing a solid-fuel Epsilon S rocket.

“There was an anomaly during today’s combustion test. “We are trying to establish what happened.”JAXA stated in a press release sent to Agence France-Presse. “No injuries have been reported so far. the causes [de l’incident] They are also under investigation.”he added.

About thirty seconds into the test, witnessed by media stationed about 900 meters away, a loud explosion was heard and what appeared to be a burning object flew towards the sea, NHK reported. The Japanese newspaper sankei He added that orange flames erupted from the rocket motor placed on a horizontal platform before the explosion.

Successes and setbacks

According to the Japanese newspaper AsahiJAXA’s plan to launch the Epsilon S rocket, the successor to the Epsilon, next March now seems almost impossible. The space agency, which managed to take an unmanned probe to the Moon last January, making Japan the fifth country to do so, 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 Epsilon S, rocket development is extremely important for the independence of Japan’s space development program”Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi declared on Tuesday.

JAXA managed to launch the H3, its new flagship rocket, in February 2024, which will allow Japan to compete in particular with the Falcon 9 of the American SpaceX. But this attempt came after a failure in February 2023, when the machine developed jointly with the Japanese group Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) could not take off due to a problem with the ignition of its thrusters. Then, during a second attempt in March 2023, the rocket initially lifted off successfully, 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, just seconds after launch. Called “Kairos” and 18 meters high, this solid-fuel rocket from Tokyo-based start-up Space One took off with a small Japanese government satellite on board. But seconds after launch, the rocket turned into a fireball, with thick smoke filling the launch site and flaming remains of the ship falling onto the surrounding slopes.

Following the announcement of Tuesday’s fire at the Tanegashima base, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) fell more than 4% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the stock of the Japanese aircraft manufacturer IHI fell almost 5%.