Japanese rocket Kairos exploded this Wednesday shortly after its first launch attempt. Company officials later held a press conference in which they explained that the rocket's automatic self-destruct mechanism was activated about five seconds after takeoff.
The objective of the launch was to put an experimental government intelligence satellite into orbit, after flying the rocket for about 50 minutes and reaching a height of 500 kilometers. The company's president, Masakazu Toyoda, stated that the company "is not going to give up its objective" and will try new launches.