Coronavirus shackles Japan's space startups with another crisis

Japanese and Singaporeans refuse to surrender their 'highly strategic' ambitions

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Equatorial Space, a Singaporean rocket launch startup, dreams about becoming a launch service provider for Southeast Asia. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)

MITSURU OBE, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO/SINGAPORE -- Interstellar Technologies, a Japanese startup, was primed to test-launch its demonstration rocket on May 2. But less than four days before the countdown, the project was abruptly blocked by a town in Hokkaido, northern Japan, which cited coronavirus concerns.

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