TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's space agency has halted an engine combustion test of its Epsilon S rocket, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, after a fire broke out at the test site, 16 months after another failed engine test derailed Japan's small rocket development.

On Tuesday, a second-stage engine designed for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's ( JAXA) new Epsilon S rocket exploded some 49 seconds into testing at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

The engine for a flagship new small Japanese rocket has burst into flames during a combustion test, but there was no injury or damage to the outside, officials said