The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s experimental SS-520-4 rocket is prepared to launch the TRICOM-1 microsatellite into orbit. The rocket failed to reach orbit after its launch on Jan. 15, 2017 from Japan’s Uchinoura Space Center.
The first flight of a tiny experimental Japanese rocket, touted as the world’s smallest booster designed to launch a satellite in orbit, failed Sunday (Jan. 15), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency officials said.
The three-stage rocket, called SS-520-4, was the size of a telephone pole and launched from Japan’s Uchinoura Space Center at 8:33 a.m. Japan Time (6:33 p.m. EST or 2333 GMT on Saturday, Jan. 14), but a communications failure forced JAXA flight controllers to abort the ignition of the rocket’s second stage, according to a translated JAXA mission update . The rocket and its tiny payload, a microsatellite called TRICOM-1, ultimately fell in to the sea southeast of the Uchinoura center in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture.
According to JAXA, the first stage of the SS-520-4 rocket performed as planned, but then flight controllers were unable to receive a signal from the booster. That apparently prompted the abort decision. [Small Rocket Launches in Pictures ]
The data dropout occurred about 20 seconds into the launch and the abort occurred three minutes after liftoff, according to a Japan Times report . Sunday’s launch was delayed repeatedly from its original date of Tuesday, Jan. 10, due to weather conditions.
The 31-foot-tall (9.5 meters) SS-520-4 rocket design expanded upon a two-stage sounding rocket that was capable of lifting experiments to space for a few minutes; the addition of a third stage lets the craft reach high enough speeds to place objects into orbit, according to Spaceflight Now .
The rocket weighs 2.9 tons (2.6 metric tons), is 1.7 feet (0.52 m) in diameter and operates using solid fuel, according to a JAXA description . The cubesat, TRICOM-1, weighs in at approximately 6.6 lbs. (3 kilograms), and measures just 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) in length and width and 13.8 inches (35 cm) in height. TRICOM-1 was designed by students to photograph the Earth and run communications experiments.
While small satellites like TRICOM-1 are frequently launched into space, they are rarely launched alone; usually, many are deployed at once from a rocket hefting larger satellites or cargo. The recent launch demonstrates the potential for using a low-cost, dedicated craft for tiny satellites that relies on commercial technology, Spaceflight Now said. The project’s budget was $3.5 million, and it was a one-of-a-kind demonstration toward building future “nano launcher” rockets.
The U.S. company Rocket Lab and others are also working on small, low-cost launch vehicles for tiny satellites, but those would be able to carry much larger payloads (and are correspondingly larger).
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .
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