A rocket from a private Japanese company exploded seconds after launch.
The images were broadcast live by NHK.
Tokyo start-up Space One aimed to be the first private Japanese company to launch a satellite into orbit.
The 18-meter-long solid-fuel Kairos rocket took off from the launch pad located in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, but a few seconds after launch it exploded, turning into a fireball, generating an enormous blanket of black smoke that billowed spread around the site, with the still burning debris falling onto the surrounding mountain slopes.
In a statement, Space One said that "details of the malfunction are still under investigation."
The failure marks a setback for the Land of the Rising Sun, which is heavily involved in the considered profitable market for satellite launches.
Space One was founded in 2018 by a team including major Japanese technology companies, including Canon Electronics, IHIAerospace, construction firm Shimizu and the government-controlled DevelopmentBank of Japan.
Last July, another Japanese rocket, the Epsilon S, exploded during a test, about 50 seconds after igniting its engines in the northern prefecture of Akita.
Also in this case the malfunction occurred after, in March 2023, Tokyo saw the second attempt to launch a new generation rocket fail.
In January, however, the Japanese space agency (Jaxa) toasted the success of the launch of the new flagship rocket, the H3, from the Tanegashima space center, southwest of the archipelago, after years of delays and two failed attempts.
The operation followed the successful landing mission of an unmanned probe on the Moon, also in January, which brought Japan into the select group of 5 countries in the world that have successfully landed on the lunar surface, after Russia, the United States , China and India.
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