The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has issued a destruction order for its H3 rocket. minutes after it took off for its maiden flight due to an apparent failure in its secondary engines, after a previous failed launch attempt last February.

Jointly developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the rocket took off from the Tanegashima Space Centerin Kagoshima (southwest), at 10:37 in the morning this Tuesday (1:37 GMT), however, minutes after takeoff, its secondary engines failed to ignite, so JAXA sent a self-destruct order for the same.

In the previous attempt, on February 17, Japan’s new flagship rocket failed to make its maiden flight after its complementary boosters did not ignite, so it did not take off, although the main engines of the first phase of it did ignite correctly.

The launch of the H3 rocket, delayed several times in recent years, generates great expectations for its weight in the Japanese aerospace program and the next generation of space development. The rocket’s maiden flight was originally scheduled for late March 2021, but the date was pushed back by about two years due to problems with its newly developed first stage LE-9 engine and replacement parts.

The H3, which is called to replace the H2-A and H2-B models used by JAXA to put satellites into orbit, is the first space rocket to use in its first phase an engine (the aforementioned LE-9) that works with an expanding cycle, a system that improves the efficiency in the use of fuel.

The rocket, which marks the first facelift of the country’s flagship launch vehicle in two decadesit is to put the DAICHI-3 earth observation satellite into orbit, which will be used to monitor the situation in disaster-affected areas.