To everyone's surprise, a car manufacturer announces that it is entering the space race. These are not empty words since it has already passed a first conclusive test.
If we say “space,” you spontaneously think of Ariane, SpaceX or even Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. In any case, at no point does the name of a car manufacturer come to mind. Yet it will have to, since one of the most famous officially announces that it is joining the names mentioned above in the space race. It is the Japanese Honda, which is not the last to release very atypical vehicles. But a rocket, that was unexpected.
In reality, the company has been conducting engine and hover flight tests with its reusable rockets since 2024 on the island of Hokkaido, in northern Japan. Confident in its ability to go further, it finally launched a rocket built by itself “using the core technologies accumulated by Honda through the development of various products, such as combustion and control technologies.” So, the verdict?
After the road, this car manufacturer wants to conquer space
The rocket manufactured by Honda can be seen in the photo below, taken just after takeoff. Measuring 6.3 meters long and 85 cm in diameter, it flew almost 300 meters above the ground for a minute before descending without incident and landing 37 cm from the planned location. It is therefore a total success for the company, which can continue its momentum with peace of mind. It has already set a deadline to achieve its goal.
Its goal is to build the technology necessary for a suborbital launch by 2029. This is a flight where the spacecraft has a speed lower than that required to maintain orbit. However, there's no question of commercializing anything yet. When it does, Honda will face fierce competition, notably from Elon Musk's SpaceX, which specializes in reusable rockets.
0 Comments