Japan is off to a shaky start in its efforts to break into the space rocket market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

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.

Japan's space agency aborted an engine test for the Epsilon S rocket on Tuesday following a fire at the test site, a failure that could push the rocket's debut launch beyond the March-end target and cause further delays in the national space programme.