Japan will delay an H2A rocket launch scheduled for May to August or later, the country's space agency says, due to it sharing parts with its successor rocket that was forced to self-destruct shortly after takeoff in March.
The European light launcher rocket Vega-C, that had two Airbus satellites Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 on board, was lost shortly after lift-off from French Guiana on Tuesday, the company behind the launch said.
The rocket was supposed to place into orbit two Earth observation satellites built by Airbus. They were to join an existing network that captures high-quality images of different points on the planet several times a day.
"The mission is lost," Stephane Israel, head of commercial launch service provider Arianespace, said from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana.