Space agency halts Epsilon rocket test after ‘boom,’ fireball | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

A fireball erupts during an engine test of an Epsilon S rocket at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Nov. 26. (Captured from JAXA’s live footage)

TANEGASHIMA, Kagoshima Prefecture--Japan’ s space agency halted an engine combustion test of its flagship Epsilon S rocket here Nov. 26 after an apparent explosion.

Live footage from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency showed a huge fireball and smoke billowing from the Tanegashima Space Center.

In the footage, a loud ‘boom’ can be heard 49 seconds into the ground test, quickly followed by the fireball and billowing white smoke.

The demonstration model for the improved Epsilon S features an enhanced second-stage motor with propellant increased from 15 tons to 18 tons, which JAXA wanted to evaluate for its cobustion performance.

During a test in July last year, the motor of an Epsilon rocket exploded at the Noshiro Rocket Testing Center in Akita Prefecture, destroying the test facility.

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