A Japanese space rocket exploded just seconds after launch in a setback for the country's space efforts.

Kairos, a small, solid-fuel rocket made by Japan's Space One, exploded just five seconds after lifting off.

The 18-metre (59 ft) rocket left behind a large cloud of smoke, a fire, fragments of the rocket and sprays of firefighting water near the launch pad on the tip of mountainous Kii peninsula in western Japan.

Space One did not specify what triggered self-destruction after the first-stage engine ignited.

The moment of explosion in Japan

The launch was the first attempt by a Japanese company to put a satellite in orbit.

Space One president Masakazu Toyoda told a press conference: "The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the achievement of its mission would be difficult...We don't use the world 'failure', because each trial brings us...new data and experience for another challenge."

Governor of Wakayama prefecture Shuhei Kishimoto told reporters that there were no injuries near the launch pad, and the fire has been extinguished.

Kairos carried an experimental government satellite that can temporarily replace intelligence satellites in orbit if they fall offline. Space One had planned the launch for Saturday but postponed it after a ship entered the nearby restricted sea area.

Smoke rises from Space One's launching pad on the tip of Kii peninsula

The company said that the launch is highly automated, requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people on the ground.