According to the Yomiuri report, the Committee on Space Development approved in late October a report drafted by a subcommittee, noting that an engine powered by liquefied natural gas and used for the second-stage rocket of the two-stage launch vehicle should be redesigned from scratch.

The second-stage engine is being developed by the ministry's Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in what is billed at Japan's first joint public-private space development project. The panel said the planned LNG-fueled engine, whose design has yet to be finalized, should be replaced with another version.

However according to the Yomiuri report some officials involved in the private sector portion of the GX project, have dismissed the interim report. The panel's call for a new rocket engine is akin to asking a student to plow ahead into second-grade study without completing the first grade, one official was reported as saying.

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