Japanese space agency explodes rocket after launch failure

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has ordered self-destruct six minutes after the launch of its Epsilon-6 rocket. The spacecraft would not have been able to fly properly and was therefore purposefully destroyed.

JAXA reported at a subsequent press conference that the Epsilon-6 was not following its intended course and therefore unable to enter orbit, so reports Kyodo. The rocket, including the eight satellites aboard the spacecraft, were subsequently destroyed. Leftovers would have ended up in the ocean. The Japanese space agency does not disclose exactly what went wrong during the launch.

The Epsilon-6 rocket was launched from the Uchinoura Space Center on the southern island of Kyushu around 9:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12. The launch was originally scheduled for last Friday, but it fell through due to an unfavorable positioning of key satellites used to track the missile in question.

The Epsilon-6 is about 26 meters high and weighs just under 96 tons. The series of rockets in question has been in use since 2013 and has already been successfully used in a launch five times. This is the first Epsilon rocket destroyed in a launch failure and also the first failed Japanese rocket launch since 2003.

The JAXA Epsilon-6 in question, moments after launch. Image via Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)