Kairos No. 3 Rocket Launch Rescheduled for Thurs.

Kushimoto, Wakayama Pref., March 4 (Jiji Press)–The launch of the No. 3 unit of the Kairos small rocket has been rescheduled for Thursday, after the liftoff slated for Wednesday was canceled, the rocket’s developer, Space One Co., has said. Space One said that it opted not to go ahead with Wednesday’s launch after a safety monitoring system was activated 30 seconds before the rocket’s liftoff from the firm’s Spaceport Kii launch site in the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, due to unstable signal reception from a positioning satellite. The launch is now scheduled to take place between 11:10 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. Thursday, Space One said. While noting that weather conditions on Wednesday were perfect, Nobuhiro Sekino, vice president of Space One, told a press conference in Kushimoto, “If the (satellite) connection is bad, the accuracy of the sensor tracking the location and speed of the rocket will decrease.” There are no issues with the Kairos unit itself or with the five small satellites to be carried by the rocket, he said. Space One failed in the launches of the Kairos No. 1 and No. 2 units in 2024. The launch of the No. 3 unit was initially scheduled for Feb. 25 this year but was postponed to Sunday and then to Wednesday, due to weather factors. The Kairos No. 3 rocket, about 18 meters in length and weighing around 23 tons, features a three-stage solid-fuel engine along with a liquid-fuel engine. The rocket was planned to separate the first of the five satellites in space about an hour after the launch. Space One, founded in 2018 with investment from firms including Canon Electronics Inc., aims to provide a service to put small satellites into space. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]