[Image: Honda]
Honda just pulled off a very un-car-like stunt: it launched a rocket 270 metres into the air… and then landed it again. Yep, four retractable legs, one very smooth touchdown, and exactly zero fireballs.
According to the company’s announcement this week, it was the first time the automaker managed a successful launch-and-land test using a prototype reusable rocket — a little 6.4-metre-tall beast weighing more than 1,270 kilograms.
The test happened in Taiki Town, Japan, which, Honda notes, “has been developing itself as a ‘space town’ through the joint efforts of public and private sectors,” including help from Japan’s space agency JAXA.
Sounds quaint. SpaceX has Starbase. Honda has… Space Town.
The rocket flew for just under a minute (56.6 seconds, if you’re counting) and landed within a neat 37cm of its target. That’s basically the bullseye equivalent of a mic drop for test launches.
While Honda’s been pretty cagey about its space ambitions since first revealing them in 2021, it’s now clear that it’s bringing some serious automotive tech into the rocket game, including automated driving systems to help control its reusable launches.
And why is Honda suddenly flirting with low Earth orbit? Satellites, of course. The company says it needs more of them to boost its other business interests, though it still hasn’t decided how (or when) it’ll turn its homegrown launch system into a commercial play.
“Although Honda rocket research is still in the fundamental research phase, and no decisions have been made regarding commercialization of these rocket technologies, Honda will continue making progress in the fundamental research with a technology development goal of realizing technological capability to enable a suborbital launch by 2029.”
Suborbital, for now. That’s 62 miles up (just under 100 km) — a very solid flex, even if it won’t quite get your payload into orbit.
But if Honda’s aiming to keep up with the big dogs like SpaceX and Blue Origin, it’ll need to climb higher — and open the chequebook.
2029’s not far off, and the space race waits for no one. Not even the guys who made the Civic.
[Source: The Verge]
