is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

located in Kushimoto,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Japan's first private spaceport, it is operated by

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 ...

, who are using it to launch their solid-fuel rocket ''KAIROS''. As of 17 December 2024, two launch attempts have been made on the site, on 13 March and 17 December respectively, which both ended up being a failure.

Location and construction

Spaceport Kii is located near the southernmost tip of

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

and is only a two-minute (1.9 kilometer) drive from Kii-Uragami Station in Nachikatsuura. The launch site was funded by several Japanese corporations, including

Canon Inc. Canon Inc. (; Hepburn: ) is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manu ...

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 ...

(who also constructed the site), and

IHI Corporation , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...

. Ground broke on 19 November 2019.

Launches

The first launch attempt of the ''KAIROS'' rocket was scheduled on 8 March 2024, however it was delayed to the 13th due to a ship in too close of proximity. It launched on the 13th, but disintegrated just seconds later. The second launch of KAIROS was initially scheduled for 14 December 24, but was ultimately scrubbed twice to 18 Dec due to bad weather. The 2nd launch had a successful liftoff, but ultimately suffered a loss of control nearing the end of the first-stage burn and was terminated. Space One has stated that it plans to have around 20 launches of ''KAIROS'' a year.

References

External links

Space One official website
Rocket launch sites in Japan Spaceports in Asia 2019 establishments in Japan Buildings and structures in Kushimoto, Wakayama {{Space-stub