On December 17, 2024, Japanese startup Space One, launched its Kairos rocket for the second time.
At first, the launch from Spaceport Kii seemed to go well, however, the vehicle appeared to lose attitude control around two minutes after lift-off. It seemed to tumble and created a corkscrew contrail. Several hours after lift-off, Space One officials said that a problem with the nozzle of the first stage or its attitude control system likely caused the failure.
The Kairos carried four cubesats and one microsatellite from the Taiwan Space Agency and a few Japanese companies. It is designed to launch up to 250 kg to a 500 km orbit with an inclination of 33 degrees. 150 kg could be launched to a sun-synchronous orbit. The rocket has three solid-fuel stages and a liquid propellant upper stage. It has a height of 18 m and diameter of 1.35 m.
The launcher was first launched on March 13, 2024, on a mission that also failed: the rocket exploded five seconds after lift-off. Its autonomous flight termination system commanded to destroy the vehicle due to a detected underperformance of the first stage.
Dec 28