A rocket engine detonated during a test in Japan on Friday, but no one was hurt, according to a Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology official.
The failure of the Epsilon S engine at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) testing site is the latest in a string of setbacks that have harmed Japan’s space ambitions.
According to the official, the explosion occurred around a minute into the second stage engine test. Television footage showed flames shooting from the side of a testing facility before the small structure caught fire and the roof collapsed.
On its first launch in March, JAXA’s new medium-lift H-3 rocket was ordered to self-destruct when its second-stage engine failed to ignite as intended. This followed the October failure of the agency’s solid-fuel Epsilon-6 rocket.
In April, ispace (9348.T)’s Hakuto-R vehicle crashed into the moon’s surface in an effort to make the first soft-landing by a commercial corporation.
