On Monday, the domestically built H3 rocket, Japan’s new flagship launcher, failed, costing the country a satellite and drawing sharp criticism from the Japanese media.
Local media called the incident a “significant setback” to Japan’s space ambitions and warned that the programme “faces a long road” before it could regain the trust of foreign partners and customers seeking guarantees that their satellites would be deployed.
While aerospace experts agree that the loss of the rocket and its payload will dent the reputation of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), they also caution against a rush to judgment.
“Part of the problem in Japan is that they have not failed enough. Development here is very long because they want perfection. Whenever something goes wrong in the process, it takes a long time to figure out what needs to change and the design engineers, laboratory technicians and everyone else are standing around waiting for someone else,” the aerospace and defence analyst said.
