Honda’s hopper suddenly makes the Japanese carmaker a serious player in rocketry
The company has not disclosed its expenses for the development of rockets. Honda’s Hopper is smaller than similar prototype gossip that SpaceX has used for vertical landing demos, so that engineers will have to develop the design to create a viable launch vehicle.
But Tuesday’s test catapulted Honda to an exclusive club of companies that have traveled hijackets with reusable rockets with an eye on the orbital flight, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space and a handful of Chinese startups. Meanwhile, European and Japanese space agencies have funded a pair of hops for reusable rockets called Themis and Callisto. None of the two rockets has ever stolen after delays for several years.
Honda’s experimental rocket is lifted by a test site in Taiki, a community in northern Japan.
Before Honda’s leadership, Green-Lit The Rocket Project in 2019, a group of young company engineers proposed applying the company’s expertise in combustion and control technologies to a launch vehicle. Honda officials think that the automaker “has the potential to contribute more to people’s daily life by launching satellites with their own rockets”.
The company suggested in its press release Tuesday that a rocket built by Honda could launch earth observation satellites to monitor global warming and extreme weather conditions, and satellite constellations for wide communications. More specifically, the company noted the importance of satellite communications to allow connected features in cars, planes and other Honda products.
“In this market environment, Honda has chosen to take up the technological challenge to develop reusable rockets using Honda Technologies raised in the development of various automated products and driving systems, depending on the conviction that reusable rockets will help obtain lasting transport,” said Honda.
Toyota, the largest automotive company in Japan, also has participation in the launch sector. Interstellar Technologies, a Japanese space startup, announced an investment of $ 44 million in Toyota in January. The two companies said they were creating an alliance to rely on Toyota’s formula for the manufacture of automobiles to create a mass producer producing orbital class plant. Interstellar has launched a handful of sound rockets but has not yet built an orbital launcher.
The main manufacturer of Japanese rockets, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is another Titan of Japanese industry, but he has never launched more than six space missions in a single year. The most recent rocket in MHI, the H3, made its debut in 2023 but is entirely consumable.
The second largest Japanese manufacturer, Honda, is now making its own game. Car manufacturers are not used to making vehicles that can only be used once.
