Japan Fails in Launch of Satellite-Carrying Small Rocket

Kimotsuki, Kagoshima Pref., Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)--The launch of Japan's SS-520-4, one of the world's smallest satellite-carrying rockets, failed on Sunday due to problems with data communication, in a setback for a project to develop a low-cost commercial space business. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, launched the rocket from its Uchinoura Space Center in the town of Kimotsuki in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at 8:33 a.m. (11:33 p.m. Saturday GMT). But JAXA canceled firing the second stage of the three-stage solid-fueled SS-520-4 due to failure to receive flight data from the rocket. The rocket fell into the sea. The SS-520-4 was designed to put TRICOM-1, a 3-kilogram microsatellite developed by the University of Tokyo, into an elliptical orbit around Earth at an altitude of about 180-1,500 kilometers. At a news conference, Hiroto Habu, associate professor of JAXA said the launch ended in failure. The SS-520-4 was 9.5 meters long, only one-fifth of Japan's mainstay H-2A rocket, about 50 centimeters in diameter and weighed 2.6 tons. It was much smaller than the university's 16.5-meter, 9.4-ton L-4S rocket, which was launched in 1970 carrying Japan's first artificial satellite Osumi. The SS-520-4 was based on the two-stage solid-fueled SS-520, designed to lift observatory equipment to an altitude of about 100 kilometers or higher. The three-stage SS-520-4 was developed to meet growing demand for low-cost rockets to launch microsatellites for commercial use, including taking pictures of Earth and conducting communications. While in orbit for about a month, TRICOM-1 was to take pictures of Earth's surface and carry out an experiment of transferring communications data from ground-based equipment. The experimental microsatellite project used commercially available electronic parts to cut costs. It was helped by about 400 million yen in financing provided by the industry ministry. END