"We need to carry out a review and make problems clear," said Hirohumi Nakasone, director-general of the Science and Technology Agency.

The H-2 rocket and satellite were exploded Monday when it veered off course after liftoff.

But the chief denied Japan would suspend the program.

"We want to take advantage of investigation results for the sake of our space development," Nakasone told a news conference.

The agency has launched a special investigation headquarters to look into the cause of the accident, an official said.

"The headquarters will take the lead in the investigation into the case, cooperating with other teams in charge of space development accidents," the agency official said.

"I ordered the Science and Technology Agency to carry out a thorough investigation and take the necessary steps," Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told parliament, according to Jiji Press news agency.

"We will take full measures to rebuild our space development system," the premier said. "We will try to do our best to launch a substitute satellite."

The Asahi Shimbun said the accident showed Japan's immaturity in space development.

"It is an extremely serious problem because the repeated failure of H-2 rockets showed Japan's space development is swerving from the course," The newspaper said in an editorial.

"Since we are spending a huge amount of state money, the government and the space development committee are responsible for a thorough review of their space development system," the influential daily said.

"Technological development is always accompanied by failure, but there is a limit," it said.

The explosion was the second successive failure in the costly H-2 rocket project after a 36-million-dollar satellite was lost in space despite a successful separation from the rocket in February 1998.

The latest launch was the seventh blast-off since 1994 of the Japanese H-2 rocket, supposed to be a fully-Japanese built rival to the successful European Ariane-4.

"It has been said that Japan (earlier) avoided suffering a major failure because Japan introduced key parts from the United States," the editorial said.

But the accident may have shown Japan's immaturity in space development, it said.

Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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