Interstellar Technologies was founded in Hokkaido, Japan by former President Livedoor, Takafumi Horie. The company's representative said that their rocket, Momo-2, exploded at 5:30 am local time, shortly after it was launched.
Momo is a rocket with a length of 10 meters, diameter 50 centimeters and weight of 1 ton. This is the second time that Interstellar Technologies' business has been in trouble, known from the Japan Times report.
In July last year, they managed to fly their Momo-1 rocket to a height of 100 kilometers. Unfortunately, they had to cancel the mission after losing control of the rocket 70 seconds after the flight.
Initially, Interstellar plans to launch Momo-2 by the end of April. The launch date was delayed due to a nitrogen leak. This failure shows how difficult it is for the private rocket industry to flourish. The members of the rocket development team were very surprised and disappointed.
"I can not immediately understand what happened," said Interstellar Technologies President, Takahiro Inagawa in a press conference. "We can not do what we expect, I feel guilty for it." However, he confessed that they would not give up.
In line with Inagawa, Horie also said that he would not give up. "We must find ways to improve ourselves," he said.