Japanese venture capital firm Space One's Kairos rocket has exploded several seconds after liftoff from a launch site in western Japan.

The launch took place in Kushimoto Town, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday shortly after 11 a.m.

Space One says it aborted the flight. The small satellite-carrying solid-fuel rocket apparently developed a problem. The company is conducting a detailed analysis of the failure.

Local emergency services say there have been no reports of injuries.

The rocket was scheduled to put a small satellite into orbit around Earth at an altitude of 500 kilometers about 50 minutes after liftoff.

If successful, Space One would have become the first private Japanese firm to achieve such a feat on its own.

The satellite was developed by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center. Center officials said they have asked the company to confirm the current situation and determine the cause of the failed launch. They called the loss of the satellite extremely regrettable.

The officials said the satellite was designed to conduct experiments to check whether it would be able to replace existing information gathering satellites. They said the failed launch is unlikely to have a major impact on Japan's information gathering capability.