Fukushima Startup Aiming to Launch Rocket from Flying Balloon

Minamisoma, Fukushima Pref., Dec. 22 (Jiji Press)--In Minamisoma, a city in Fukushima Prefecture that was hit hard by tsunami in 2011, a local space startup is aiming to launch a rocket from a flying balloon in fiscal 2025, which starts next April.

"We will move forward together with local people," Shobu Oda, CEO of the Japanese startup, AstroX Inc., said after the company successfully conducted a ground test of a small rocket in November.

Oda, who had previously had no connection with Minamisoma, founded the company in 2022, choosing the city because the east side faces the sea, which is suitable for launching rockets, and planes and ships pass nearby less frequently.

He was also attracted by generous public support, including subsidies for reconstruction from the 2011 disaster.

In collaboration with the Chiba Institute of Technology in the city of Narashino near Tokyo, AstroX is working on the development of a small rocket that will be launched from a balloon about 20 kilometers from the ground.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]