Japan’s first launch of a rocket developed with foreign capital has been delayed from Sunday due to an approaching typhoon, the operator of a private spaceport in Hokkaido said.
Space Cotan Co., which operates the spaceport in Japan’s northernmost prefecture, said the launch has been postponed to the following Saturday or later, as the typhoon could hinder ship-based monitoring and debris recovery in the event of an emergency.
The rocket, named VP01, was developed by the Japanese arm of a Taiwanese aerospace company. It is 12 meters long, 0.6 meter in diameter and weighs 1.4 tons, according to Space Cotan.
The mission aims to send the rocket beyond the 100-kilometer mark to test its performance in space. If successful, it would mark the first launch from Japanese soil of a rocket developed with foreign backing, Space Cotan said.
