Next launch of first Japanese private space rocket set for year-end

TOKYO, July 31 — The Japanese Interstellar Technologies Inc. company will make a new attempt to launch the nation’s first privately developed rocket before the end of 2017, Takahiro Inagawa, the company’s CEO, said Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Interstellar Technologies Inc. launched the rocket called “Momo” from a launching pad in the country’s Hokkaido island.

The rocket was the first one to be launched not by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), but by a private company. However, the launch was aborted a minute after due to technical reasons and the rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean.

“Before the contact has been lost, we have succeeded to obtain the information about the flight, that’s why we are very satisfied with the result. We will analyze all the weak points and fix them and will try to carry out a new launch before the end of the year,” Inagawa said, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.

The first launch of the “Momo” rocket has been repeatedly suspended due to either bad weather or technical conditions.