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Another rocket failure for Japan space programme

TOKYO: Japan's struggling space programme suffered another setback on Thursday when a rocket failed to put a research satellite into orbit, the second successive such disappointment.

The three-stage M-5 rocket lifted off successfully from the Uchinoura launch site on Japan's southernmost main island, Kyushu, but veered off course and scientists later lost track of the satellite, an education ministry official said.

No further information was available on the fate of the errant orbiter, he said. The M-5 type rocket has been used successfully twice.

The launch, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed twice -- first due to bad weather and then because of what officials termed a wiring fault in a tracking station.

Japanese newspapers said the sescond problem may have been caused by a worker who tripped over a vital computer cable and disconnected it.

Thursday's mishap was the third failure for Japan's space programme in less than two years and cost the government 18.4 billion yen ($168.8 million), the official said. The task of the satellite had been to shed light on the history of the universe through measurement of high-temperature celestial gases.

In an embarrassing incident last November, scientists were forced to blow up a flagship H-2 rocket eight minutes after its launch when it failed to follow its proper path. A 10 billion yen ($92 million) satellite was lost as a result.

In February 1998, another unsuccessful launch cost 60 billion yen.

As a result, Japan's space agency said last December it would abandon the H-2 rocket programme to concentrate on development of a new rocket, the H-2A, planned as a less expensive successor.

The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) said at the time that it had decided to scrap the programme to avoid further expense and embarrassment, despite having already budgeted 16 billion yen for the last H-2 rocket, which was 80 percent completed.

The H2-A's maiden voyage was originally set for early 2000, but the repeated H-2 failures prompted officials to delay indefinitely the programme to give them time to eliminate technological flaws.-Reuters