Japan's hopes to build the private space industry are dashed again. Because the rocket that was launched for spaceflight again burned. The Engadget page reports that Interstellar Technologies' second attempt at rocket launches was not good enough. The 33-foot-long MOMO-2 rocket was on fire moments after takeoff.
Until now, the Interstellar has not provided certainty related to the cause of the rocket accident. The company is also reluctant to talk about the launch strategy in the future. But Interstellar is claimed to still use the remaining parts rather than having to design it from scratch. This is done to cut costs.
Based on the information, MOMO cost about 440 thousand US dollars. The price is much smaller than a government project that spends more than $ 1.8 million. So far, Interstellar says that the launch facility is still intact so it can continue the program. But the failure of the launch in 2017 and allegedly burned down the entire runway.
Interstellar is also considered increasingly slumped, one of which related to the reputation of the founder Takafumi Horie. In addition to being known as the founder of Interstellar, Horie is the figure who created the internet service provider Livedoor. But Horie's reputation was shattered after being caught doing financial fraud, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The figure of Horie behind Interstellar is very difficult when compared to Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. The two figures made enormous progress despite being interspersed with failure. Horie is also not as ambitious as Musk and Bezos. Previously, Japan felt a new hope to have an aerospace industry outside government programs. But now, Japan's plan to put the satellite into Earth's orbit by 2020 is still 'fate'.