Honda wants to build reusable rockets
October 1, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Japanese carmaker Honda wants to build reusable rockets in the style of SpaceX.
According to a report in Japan’s Nikkei, the carmaker has set 2030 as the target date to launch a test rocket.
Honda says it will invest some $45 billion on R&D over the next six years, and will include so-called ‘flying cars’ and robots in the development portfolio. Honda has not subdivided the cash into the assorted projects.
“Core technologies in these areas are connected to our existing businesses,” said Marcos Frommer, head of corporate communications for Honda, in a briefing, “And we are pursuing these new areas as an expansion of our core business as a mobility company.”
Honda says it is hoping to put its work propulsion, guidance, and control technologies to work on what it calls a ‘reusable rocket’ programme, Frommer said. The carmaker has been working on rocket technology since 2019.
“If we can use such rockets to launch small low orbit satellites, we can expect to evolve our core technologies into various services, including connected services,” said Frommer.