JAXA: Launch of Epsilon S rocket within fiscal 2024 impossible

Dec 06, 2024 | News On Japan

Dec 06, 2024 (NHK) - Japan's space agency has acknowledged that it cannot stick to its plan to launch, by the end of March 2025, what it hopes will be one of the country's mainstay rockets. An explosion occurred during a combustion test for the Epsilon S small solid-fuel rocket last week.

Officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, held a news conference on Thursday. They outlined what its investigative team has so far found out about the cause of the explosion. The blast happened at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on November 26.

The officials said detailed analyses of footage and other information showed that some of the combustion gas was not emanating from the nozzle it was supposed to come out of, but rather from a different area.

But the officials said it is not clear whether the leak led to the explosion.

The officials added that an ignition device did not melt. JAXA had earlier said that a part of the device had melted and led to an explosion during a similar test in Akita Prefecture in July of last year. The agency said it took steps to prevent a recurrence before last month's blast.

JAXA Vice President Okada Masashi is the head of the investigative team. He said it would be difficult for the agency to build a launch engine by the end of the current fiscal year, as it first has to identify the cause of the latest explosion, restore the test facilities and then successfully carry out a combustion test.

Typhoon No. 15 Expected to Make Landfall in Eastern Japan on August 11

Typhoon No. 15 (Chan-hom) is increasingly likely to make landfall between Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures on the Pacific coast of eastern Japan from the evening through the night of August 11, after moving northwest over waters east of Japan at about 15 kilometers per hour as of 9 a.m. on August 10.

Raccoon Damage Surges Across Japan

Raccoons are increasingly invading homes across Japan, damaging roofs and wiring, contaminating buildings with large amounts of urine and feces, and raising concerns over agriculture, native wildlife and the spread of disease as their population continues to expand.

Nagasaki Marks 81st Anniversary With Call to Uphold Non-Nuclear Principles

Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on August 9 with a memorial ceremony near the hypocenter, where Mayor Shiro Suzuki declared nuclear weapons an "absolute evil" and called on the Japanese government to uphold its Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

Flights Still Disrupted After Typhoon No. 13 Hits Okinawa

Transport services were gradually returning to normal on August 9 after Typhoon No. 13 caused widespread cancellations and shutdowns across Okinawa, although air travel remained disrupted as airlines worked to restore schedules and accommodate passengers stranded during the opening days of Japan's busy Obon holiday period.

Typhoon No. 13 Moves West but Severe Weather Lingers in Okinawa

Typhoon No. 13 was moving slowly west on the night of August 8 and was expected to approach the Chinese mainland by the night of August 9, but Okinawa, Amami and parts of southern Kyushu remained at risk from strong winds, intermittent heavy rain and dangerous seas even as the storm's center moved farther away.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Sci-Tech NEWS

Instant Houses Installed in Kumamoto Disaster Area

Requests for rapidly constructed "instant houses" are growing across areas of Kumamoto Prefecture devastated by the recent earthquake, providing air-conditioned temporary shelter for residents who have been sleeping in tents and vehicles beside their damaged homes.

Students Design Future Lunar City in Minecraft Using JAXA Materials

University students in Shizuoka have designed a future lunar city using the globally popular game Minecraft and educational materials supervised by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, combining programming and spatial design to explore how people could live safely and sustainably on the moon.

Toyota Futuristic City Begins Recruiting Residents

Toyota Motor has begun recruiting residents of Shizuoka Prefecture to live in Woven City, its experimental community for developing future technologies, with about 25 households expected to move into the site for two years from March 2027.

Osaka Researcher Seeks to Make Sugar From Air

A 29-year-old Osaka University researcher is developing technology to produce sugar from carbon dioxide in the air, seeking to create a faster and more sustainable source of livestock feed as population growth, extreme weather and poor harvests raise fears of future food shortages.

Kego Fault Zone Also Faces Unruptured Segment Risk

The Kego Fault Zone running through central Fukuoka could produce an earthquake with a maximum seismic intensity of 7, leaving 1,800 people dead, 800 disaster-related deaths and 319,000 evacuees, according to prefectural damage estimates, as experts warn that an unruptured section may remain under stress.

Kumamoto Quake Shares Same Mechanism as 2016 Disaster, Expert Says

The powerful earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28 was caused by essentially the same mechanism as the devastating earthquakes that hit the region 10 years ago, according to a leading seismologist, who warned residents to prepare for strong aftershocks and take precautions against heatstroke even during the night.

Japan Confirms Rare Earths in Deep-Sea Mud

Multiple rare earth elements essential for high-tech products have been confirmed in mud extracted from the deep seabed off Minamitorishima, Japan's easternmost island.

The Truth About Fake USB Drives Circulating Online

Low-cost USB drives advertised online with enormous storage capacities are exposing users to the risk of lost data, malware infections and information theft, with tests finding that some products contain only a fraction of the memory shown on their labels.

< 2 3 4 5 >