Kyodo News: Taiwan Rocket's First Flight in Japan Fails
Kyodo News, July 12 report: On the morning of July 12 at around 11:40, the Japanese branch of the Taiwanese space company jtSPACE launched its independently developed "VP01" rocket from the "Hokkaido Space Port" in Otofuke Town, Hokkaido, which encountered a failure. The rocket is 12 meters long, 0.6 meters in diameter, and weighs 1.4 tons, and was originally planned to verify its performance of reaching above 100 kilometers in space. According to SPACE COTAN Company, which operates the space port, the first stage of the rocket flew along the predetermined trajectory and separated, but the flight of the second stage was interrupted for some reason, triggering the built-in safety shutdown function, leading to its crash. Mr. Yoshihisa Oda, president of SPACE COTAN, said: "The launch itself was carried out smoothly. What happened with the second stage needs further detailed investigation." This launch was an important event at the space port, and the cause of the failure has become the focus of attention.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837433612428683/
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