Honda is best known for its cars, but will it one day also rival SpaceX as a satellite launch provider? On Tuesday, the Japanese company announced it had successfully launched and landed an experimental reusable rocket, which soared nearly 900 feet into the sky.
The experimental rocket comes from Honda R&D, which held the launch to “demonstrate key technologies essential for rocket reusability, such as flight stability during ascent and descent, as well as landing capability,” the company said.
Honda also released a video of the launch, which happened on Tuesday in Hokkaido, Japan. The flight itself only lasted about a minute with the rocket touching down “at 37cm (14.5 inches) of the target touchdown point,” Honda says.
Honda’s test rocket, simply dubbed the “reusable launch vehicle” or RLV, is relatively small at 6.3 meters high, or 20.6 feet. It also weighs in at 1,312 kilograms (2,892 pounds) when accounting for the fuel, or 900kg without fuel.
Of course, Honda’s rocket is nowhere near matching the capabilities of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicle, which stands at 230 feet in height and has successfully completed 500 space missions, including deploying thousands of Starlink satellites. Still, Honda is hopeful its emerging rocket technology will be able to launch satellites one day.
“In today’s world, vast amounts of data are consumed, with the growing expectation for greater utilization of a data system in outer space through expanded use of satellites,” the company noted. “In light of this trend, the need for satellite launch rockets is also expected to increase in the coming years.”
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(Credit: Honda)
After starting the space technology research in 2021, Honda says its rocket research remains “in the fundamental research phase, and no decisions have been made regarding commercialization of these rocket technologies.” Still, the company is aiming to achieve a suborbital launch by 2029.
In the meantime, SpaceX is the dominant launch provider. But other companies, including Blue Origin and California-based Rocket Lab, are trying to expand in the reusable rocket space and even mass produce satellites.
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
