WASHINGTON — The third launch of a small launch vehicle developed by a Japanese company failed shortly after liftoff March 4, raising questions about the rocket’s future.
A Kairos rocket lifted off from Spaceport Kii in southern Honshu at 9:10 p.m. Eastern. This was the third launch attempt after weather postponed a Feb. 28 effort and an issue with a safety system scrubbed a second attempt March 3.
The solid-fuel rocket ascended from the pad and initially appeared to be flying normally. However, about 70 seconds after liftoff, an energetic event became visible in the rocket’s plume. Several fragments appeared, including one large piece that was clearly tumbling.
In a social media post, Space One, the company that operates Kairos, said it activated the rocket’s flight termination system after it “determined that mission success was difficult,” according to a machine translation. The company did not immediately disclose additional details about the problem that triggered the termination of the launch.
This is the third failure in as many attempts for Kairos, a rocket designed to place up to 150 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit. The first Kairos launch, in March 2024, failed seconds after liftoff in a spectacular explosion. Space One later said underperformance of the rocket’s first-stage motor triggered the flight termination system.
The second Kairos launch took place in December 2024. On that flight, the rocket appeared to lose attitude control about a minute and a half after liftoff. Space One determined that a failure in the thrust vector control system, which adjusts the position of the nozzle, caused the rocket to tumble.
This launch was carrying five small satellites from Japanese companies and organizations as well as the Taiwanese space agency.
The failure raises questions about the future of Kairos and Space One, whose investors include Canon and IHI Aerospace. Despite failures on the first two Kairos launches, Space One, working with Space BD, won a contract from the Japan Ministry of Defense in May 2025 for the dedicated launch of a small optical imaging satellite.
The failure is the latest in a series of setbacks for Japan’s launch industry. The country’s flagship launch vehicle, the H3, suffered a launch failure in December that an initial investigation linked to an issue during separation of the rocket’s payload fairing. The shock of the fairing separation may have damaged both the upper stage and the satellite payload, causing the satellite to prematurely separate from the upper stage.
The smaller Epsilon rocket has been grounded since an October 2022 launch failure. The Epsilon program has also suffered failures of upgraded solid rocket motors in two static-fire tests in July 2023 and November 2024. Those setbacks led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in October 2025 to purchase two launches of Rocket Lab’s Electron for satellites originally slated to fly on Epsilon.
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