Japan's Space One to Launch Kairos Rocket Feb. 25

Tokyo, Dec. 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese startup Space One Co. will launch a Kairos small rocket carrying artificial satellites on Feb. 25 next year after two failed attempts.

The Tokyo-based company aims to be Japan's first to put a satellite into orbit using a rocket developed solely by the private sector.

Carrying five microsatellites, the No. 3 unit of the Kairos rocket is scheduled to lift off from the company's Spaceport Kii launch site in the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, around between 11 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. on Feb. 25, Space One said Monday.

"We have been making preparations carefully, checking necessary steps one by one," Space One President Masakazu Toyoda told a press conference.

"The No. 3 unit represents the determination of Space One," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]