The Japan Aerospace Agency ordered the self-destruction of the H3 rocket after it failed after liftoff.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent an order on Tuesday Destroy your H3 rocket yourself It was a few minutes after taking off on its maiden flight An apparent failure of its secondary engines, After a failed launch attempt last February.

“Seems to be slowing down”Narrators said on the JAXA live broadcast that the command center then announced that “the ignition engine of the second stage has not been confirmed”.

The live broadcast was briefly interrupted by a message that read: “We are currently reviewing the situation. Wait”.

When transmission resumed, the command center announced the destruction of the rocket.

“The destruction order was sent to H3 as it was unlikely to complete the mission,” the control center said.

Co-developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima at 10:37 am (1:37 GMT) on Tuesday. Her secondary engines failed to ignite So JAXA sent an order for the device to self-destruct.

In an earlier attempt, on February 17, Japan’s new flagship rocket It failed to make its first flight because its auxiliary boosters failed to fire Although its first stage main engines ignited properly, it did not take off for whatever reason.

The launch of the H3 rocket, which has been delayed several times in recent years, It creates huge expectations for its weight in the Japanese space program and the next generation of aerospace development.

The rocket’s first flight was originally scheduled for late March 2021, but The date was pushed back by about two years due to engine problems Its first phase, LE-9, was recently developed, and for replacement parts.

Called to replace the H2-A and H2-B models used by JAXA to put satellites into orbit, the H3 was the first space rocket to use an engine (the aforementioned LE-9) in its first stage. expanding cycle, A system that improves efficiency in fuel use.

The rocket, which will mark the first update of the country’s primary launch vehicle in two decades, will launch the DAICHI-3 Earth observation satellite, which will be used to monitor the situation in disaster-hit areas.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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