Japan just tried to launch the world’s smallest orbital rocket

This weekend Japan tried to launch a 3kg cubesat into orbit aboard its multi-stage, SS-520 rocket. Were it to have succeeded, the SS-520 would have become the smallest rocket to ever deliver a payload into orbit. Alas, the rocket did not make it.

According to the Japanese Exploration Agency, or JAXA, the sounding rocket launched on Sunday morning from the Uchinoura Space Center on the country's southernmost main island, Kyushu. Although the first stage fired normally, a preplanned check between first-stage separation and the second ignition did not show consistent telemetry data. This prevented the firing of the second stage, and the rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean, southeast of the spaceport.

Measuring 9.65 meters tall, the SS-520 rocket had a diameter of just 0.52 meters and weighed a total of 2.6 tons. It was hoped that, with further development, the SS-520 rocket could ultimately lift a payload of 140kg up to 800 km above the Earth's surface.

The launch was part of a program by JAXA to develop lower-cost small rockets. With avionics and other electronics sourced from home electronics and smartphones, the agency aimed to spur commercial development within Japan of small satellite boosters. The SS-520 rocket cost less than $5 million to build and prepare for launch.

The Japanese program mimics efforts by a number of US and international companies, such as Vector Space Systems, to develop small satellite launchers. None of these firms has yet succeeded, but a flurry of experimental launches are likely this year and in 2018 as demand for small satellites weighing 100kg or less is expected to continue to increase.

Listing image by JAXA