The , or Kii-based Advanced & Instant Rocket System, is a Japanese

solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The incepti ...

designed to launch

small satellites A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites c ...

of mass up to 250 kg to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

and up to 150 kg to

sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

by the

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pionee ...

company

Space One , or Space One (''スペースワン''), is a Japanese aerospace manufacturer, orbital launch service provider, and spaceport operator. It is a private spaceflight company developing and operating the KAIROS orbital launch vehicle for small sa ...

. It consists of 3 solid fuel powered stages and a liquid propellant upper stage.

Namesake

The namesake of the KAIROS rocket is the Greek word ''

Kairos ''Kairos'' () is an ancient Greek language, Greek word meaning 'the right or critical moment'. In modern Greek, ''kairos'' also means 'weather' or 'time'. It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being (). ...

'', which means the subjective 'right time' as contrasted with ''

Chronos Chronos (; ; , Modern Greek: ), also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified ...

'' which is the objective clock time. Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the name of

Caerus In Greek mythology, Caerus (Greek: Καιρός, ''Kairos'', the same as ''kairos'') was the personification of opportunity, luck and favorable moments. He was shown with only one lock of hair. His Roman equivalent was Occasio or Tempus. Caeru ...

, the Greek deity of luck and opportunity.

Manufacture

manufactures the KAIROS rocket at Tomioka Plant in the city of Tomioka,

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

CKT20111-C18-16 IHI Aerospace Tomioka Plant

Launches

Launch site

Launches are planned from Spaceport Kii in

Kushimoto, Wakayama 270px, Shionomisaki Southernmost Point Park is a coastal town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,192 in 8354 households and a population density of 110 persons per km2. The t ...

, Japan, a dedicated launch site built by

Shimizu Corporation is an architecture, architectural, civil engineering and General contractor, general contracting firm. It has annual sales of approximately US$15 billion and has been widely recognized as one of the top 5 contractors in Japan and among the top 2 ...

. This spaceport is accessible from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) via Nanki–Shirahama Airport in approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, and from

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport (), commonly known as Kankū (; ), is the primary international airport in the Keihanshin, Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on ...

in approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes.

First launch

The first launch was planned on 9 March 2024 but was postponed because a ship was spotted in the "maritime warning area" set up in waters near the launch pad. The launch eventually took place on 13 March 2024, but the vehicle exploded five seconds after liftoff. The remains of the rocket and payload fell close to the launch pad, but no substantial damage was found. Space One announced several hours later that the autonomous flight termination system could have activated and ended the mission. On 25 August 2024, the company's director confirmed that a destruct command was issued on the rocket. The AFTS detected a speed and level of thrust on the first stage that was lower than was modeled. Because this was the first rocket launch in Japan that used a flight safety system capable of intervening in a launch without human involvement, the destruct criteria were set to be particularly conservative.

Second flight

The second flight took place on 18 December 2024, which was cancelled because of failed rocket shortly after launch. The mission was planned to carry five satellites, including four

CubeSats A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

and one

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

. These satellites include payloads developed by

Taiwan Space Agency Taiwan Space Agency (abbreviated TASA), formerly the National Space Organization (NSPO) from 1991 to 2023, is the national civilian space agency of Taiwan, under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council (Taiwan), National Sci ...

Space Cubics LLCTerra Space Inc.
an
jp/ LAGRAPO Ltd
as well as an additional satellite owned by an unnamed customer. The rocket began tumbling during 1st stage burn. The flight was terminated some time after.

List of launches

References

External links

Official Website (in English)
Solid-fuel rockets Space launch vehicles of Japan Expendable space launch systems {{Space-stub