​The H3 rocket, the pride of Japan’s space program, suffered another setback on Tuesday, having to be remotely aborted 5 minutes after launch due to problems with its second stage engine. The Japanese will have to build a new rocket to launch the planned satellites, and that will take time.

Japanese rocket H3Photo: Jiji Press / Jiji Press Photo / Profimedia

The rocket was successfully launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Wednesday night, and it looked like things would go better than the February 17 test, when the rocket failed to lift off from the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3Cj0zoY7M

Now the launch was successful only in the first stage, but 5 minutes and 27 seconds after takeoff the command was given to self-destruct for safety reasons. This command was needed because the second gear motor could not be started.

The rocket could no longer achieve the correct trajectory for its mission, so it was destroyed to avoid causing destruction or casualties when it fell to Earth.

15 minutes after launch, JAXA, the Japanese space agency, confirmed that the mission had failed. The remains of the rocket fell somewhere off the coast of the Philippines.

JAXA’s director publicly apologized for the failure and said a full investigation would be conducted to find out what went wrong.

The rocket was 63 meters high and weighed 574 tons. The H3 also carried Japan’s Daichi-3 Earth observation satellite, which was supposed to transmit images to help authorities respond quickly to natural disasters.

Japan has a robust space program that has achieved important successes, including the return of dust and rock samples from the Ryugu asteroid. Japan has many private companies in this sector and wants to fully build its future missiles.

Analysts say Japan has focused too much on technical excellence, but not on utility and cost reduction in the space program.