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TimesLIVE
14-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Taiwanese rocket fails to achieve Japan's first foreign launch
Taiwanese private rocket company TiSpace terminated the flight of one of its rockets shortly after lift-off in northern Japan on Saturday, failing to become the first foreign company to perform a successful launch on Japanese soil. TiSpace, through its Japanese unit jtSPACE, tried to reach outer space 100km above the Earth's surface on the inaugural flight of its 12m, hybrid-fuelled rocket VP01 in a launch from Japan's Hokkaido Spaceport. The rocket lifted off at 11.40am (2.40am GMT), but within a minute its trajectory turned wobbly and it went into freefall, footage from Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. "We are examining the situation of the flight," a spokesperson for Space Cotan, the Japanese company operating the Hokkaido Spaceport, said after the launch attempt. The rocket did not carry a satellite, although Space Cotan has said its success would be a step toward building a satellite-launching vehicle.
Nikkei Asia
13-07-2025
- Science
- Nikkei Asia
Taiwan rocket crashes in Japan's 1st launch backed by foreign capital
Science Spacecraft brought down by its flight termination system, port operator's CEO says The Taiwanese rocket VP01, launched from Japan on July 12, failed to reach space. (Space Cotan) KUSHIRO, Japan (Kyodo) -- A Taiwanese rocket crashed shortly after lifting off from a private spaceport in northern Japan, failing in what would have been the first successful launch from Japanese soil of a rocket developed with foreign capital. The 12-meter rocket, dubbed the VP01, was launched by jtSPACE Co., a Japanese arm of a Taiwanese aerospace company, at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, according to the operator of Hokkaido Spaceport. While the rocket's first stage likely separated and splashed down in the Pacific as planned, the second stage lost stability immediately after separation and came down in a restricted-access field near the spaceport. "The second stage was terminated after separation, as it was determined that the mission could no longer proceed," the port operator, Space Cotan, said in a press release. No injuries were reported. The VP01 reached an altitude of 4 kilometers, significantly short of the target altitude of 100 km. Space Cotan said the rocket was brought down by its flight termination system. CEO Yoshinori Odagiri said the company will wait for the results of an investigation into what happened to the rocket's second stage. The test aimed to send the VP01, which measures 0.6 meter in diameter and weighs 1.4 metric tons, to an altitude of about 100 km, verify the rocket's performance and support the development of an orbital launch vehicle capable of carrying a satellite, according to Space Cotan.
Japan Times
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Japan Times
Taiwanese rocket fails to achieve Japan's first foreign launch
Taiwanese private rocket company TiSpace terminated the flight of one of its rockets shortly after lift-off in northern Japan on Saturday, failing to become the first foreign company to perform a successful launch on Japanese soil. TiSpace, through its Japanese unit jtSPACE, tried to reach outer space 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface on the inaugural flight of its 12-meter, hybrid-fuelled rocket VP01 in a launch from Japan's Hokkaido Spaceport. The rocket lifted off at 11:40 a.m., but within a minute its trajectory turned wobbly and it went into free fall, footage from Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. "We are examining the situation of the flight," a spokesperson for Space Cotan, the Japanese company operating the Hokkaido Spaceport, said after the launch attempt. The rocket did not carry a satellite, although Space Cotan has said its success would be a step toward building a satellite-launching vehicle. TiSpace, led by a former Taiwan Space Agency official, has not had a successful spaceflight. It turned to Japan in search of a test site after failing to launch a rocket in Australia in 2022. While local officials and businesses in Hokkaido welcomed the move as a milestone toward becoming an international space hub, some Japan space policy experts have worried about provoking China, which closely monitors Taiwan's advances in missile-related technologies. In Japan, private rocketmakers are racing to gain entry to the commercial launch market dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX and U.S. rivals including Rocket Lab. No privately developed Japanese rocket has achieved orbital satellite launch. Interstellar Technologies, a Hokkaido-based startup now backed by Toyota, was in 2019 the first private rocket venture in Japan to reach space, although without a satellite payload. Canon Electronics-backed Space One conducted two failed orbital launches last year. Carmaker Honda last month succeeded in a low-altitude test of its prototype reusable rocket in Hokkaido, pledging to achieve spaceflight by 2029.
The Star
13-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Taiwanese rocket crashes in Japan's first launch backed by foreign capital
KUSHIRO (Japan), July 13 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- A Taiwanese rocket crashed shortly after lifting off from a private spaceport in northern Japan, failing in what would have been the first successful launch from Japanese soil of a rocket developed with foreign capital, according to Kyodo News Agency. The 12-metre rocket, dubbed "VP01", was launched by jtSPACE Co., a Japanese arm of a Taiwanese aerospace company, at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, according to the operator of Hokkaido Spaceport. While the rocket's first stage likely separated and splashed down in the Pacific as planned, the second stage lost stability immediately after separation and came down in a restricted-access field near the spaceport. "The second stage was terminated after separation, as it was determined that the mission could no longer proceed," the port operator, Space Cotan Co., said in a press release. No injuries were reported. VP01 reached an altitude of four kilometres, significantly short of the target altitude of 100 km. Space Cotan said the rocket was brought down by its flight termination system. CEO Yoshinori Odagiri said the company will wait for the results of an investigation into what happened to the rocket's second stage. The test aimed to send the VP01, which measures 0.6 metre in diameter and weighs 1.4 tonnes, to an altitude of about 100 km, verify the rocket's performance, and support the development of an orbital launch vehicle capable of carrying a satellite, according to Space Cotan. - Bernama-Kyodo
The Mainichi
13-07-2025
- Business
- The Mainichi
Taiwan rocket crashes in Japan's 1st launch backed by foreign capital
KUSHIRO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) -- A Taiwanese rocket crashed shortly after lifting off from a private spaceport in northern Japan, failing in what would have been the first successful launch from Japanese soil of a rocket developed with foreign capital. The 12-meter rocket dubbed "VP01" was launched by jtSPACE Co., a Japanese arm of a Taiwanese aerospace company, at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, according to the operator of Hokkaido Spaceport. While the rocket's first stage likely separated and splashed down in the Pacific as planned, the second stage lost stability immediately after separation and came down in a restricted-access field near the spaceport. "The second stage was terminated after separation, as it was determined that the mission could no longer proceed," the port operator Space Cotan Co. said in a press release. No injuries were reported. VP01 reached an altitude of 4 kilometers, significantly short of the target altitude of 100 km. Space Cotan said the rocket was brought down by its flight termination system. CEO Yoshinori Odagiri said the company will wait for the results of an investigation into what happened to the rocket's second stage. The test aimed to send the VP01, which measures 0.6 meter in diameter and weighs 1.4 tons, to an altitude of about 100 km, verify the rocket's performance and support the development of an orbital launch vehicle capable of carrying a satellite, according to Space Cotan.
