Honda says growing expectations of a “data system in outer space” are going to increase the demand for rockets to launch satellites. So, the Japanese automaker quietly built one and tested it successfully.
Japan’s second-largest carmaker, Honda, has successfully tested an experimental reusable space rocket on the nothern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the company said in a surprise announcement.
“The test was completed successfully, the first time Honda landed a rocket after reaching an altitude of nearly 300 meters (1,000 feet),” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The carmaker aims to achieve suborbital space flight in 2029. In 2021, Honda said it was studying space technologies such as reusable rockets but made no announcements prior to Tuesday’s test
Just wait until they add VTEC to it
Was that a sonic boom? Nah, rev limiter!
Could have been the blowoff valve for the turbo! Or a shitty muffler delete on a nearby Infiniti
The aftermarket spoiler market for these will be huge.
Wait until Hector gets to Harry’s…this shit gonna be lit.
I expect we’ll see SpaceX rockets with VTEC stickers trying to masquerade as performance rockets.
Honda landing rockets, VW getting fully automated vans to drive safely on roads, xAI burning through 1b monthly. Not a good time to be a musk, I guess.
He has so much money he could lose a billion dollars every month and still have billions left in 2055.
This must terrify Musk and his SpaceX
It pleases me.
I doubt that. Spacex is miles ahead of the rest and they have bigger plans.
Sure they would rather have a monopoly on cheap rockets for as long as possible but they have always known people would be trying to catch them up
Yes, but Honda also builds nice things. They’re not the neighbors you want moving in next door if your business is making reliable and precise things cheaply.
Maybe it doesn’t matter because SpaceX just lies on all their bids anyways
I don’t believe they have even hit space yet, the test was only from 1000 ft.
Still, cool as hell.
Wait. This is just more commodification of space.
Fuck that. And I will be against it until we figure out our fucking shit down here on the ground.
rivaling their … 8 year old technology
not a fan of musk but spacex seriously leapfrogged everyone in the 2010s
Oh no their very first prototype test didn’t catch up and surpass everything. Guess they’re doomed. Better give up and stop trying.
where the fuck did i ever say that
Modern rockets have only been a thing for 70 years. 8 years is nothing. That would be like saying Rivian or Tesla can’t compete with Ford because they haven’t been making cars as long. Tesla didn’t have to spend a decade making the Model A or T before it figured out how to make cars effectively. Honda will also be able to spend less time making it to orbit than SpaceX did.
only to seemingly all turn into a shit show.
He’s a shit show, but SpaceX is still doing great. They have more launches per year than any other company or country. While they’ve had multiple launches explode recently, that’s their newer larger rocket where they’re still working out kinks.
If they can’t get that into shape eventually it could be a problem for the company, but their smaller rocket has a great record, reusable, a fraction of the cost of any other launch provider. Right now they’re the only game in town for the U.S. getting to the ISS.
I’d love to see Musk ousted, and more importantly to see real competition from other private launch providers. But don’t let Musk hate color your view of reality.
Fair enough, though he builds all his personal image on completely associating his whole being with the companies he runs. Apparently he is even the chief engineer of spaceX probably because he wants to feel like Tony Stark. It is hard to trust a company where he names him self the chief engineer because that means he can enforce stupid decisions only because it sounds cool to him. Then once in a while he comes up with ridiculous stuff like donating his sperm for the mars mission or stuff like this:
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/spacex-musk-safety/
https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/Memo on Elon Musk OSHA cases_.pdf
https://tech.yahoo.com/science/articles/elon-musk-told-spacex-workers-181406484.html
Otherwise kudos to all the great engineers who work there but I am not optimistic unless he lessens his influence there.
Just because you want something to be true doesn’t make it so.
or the other way around
Down voted because you didnt immediately talk shit about someone. We all hate musk but it doesnt mean we have to claim it for every post.
from what I’ve heard musk and the HR head is basically destroying spacex from the inside?
i dislike their upper management but i still appreciate what the people there do, and think what they’re doing is incredible
lemmy doesn’t seem to like nuance unfortunately
Oh shit dont mention something good someone done! People might get their undies all in a twist.
They really did! Starship could be a similar leap, if it pans out. It would be an incredible jump in launch capacity and a dramatic drop in price.
Altitude of 300m …. This is older than 8 years, this corresponds to the first SpaceX tests …. I don’t see that level of historical detail, but Wikipedia lists a milestone of a recovered falcon 9 after launch to orbit. Hondas technology is somewhere over 15 years old …. And the article doesn’t say whether it’s comparable size or power, so no.
Honda’s thing is still epic but you could probably even compare it to delta clipper, from 30 years ago or so
Now that’s a diversification I didn’t see coming. Not bad.
Time to invest in Honda.
Maybe they’re gonna go full Yamaha.
Can’t wait to play a Honda Tenor Saxophone.
Ehh they have an engine market problem. I’ve seen analysis that Honda isn’t a car company, they’re an engine company - cars, generators, lawn mowers, pumps, a whole whack of industrial things. They really need to shift to electric motors but even then it’s not a 1 for 1.
About time. Took the market long enough. Bloody hell, it’s like capitalism literally handed Musk this business on a golden platter.
I love that space travel is becoming so democratized now.
It shouldn’t just be governments, it shouldn’t just be private companies, it should be anyone with the wherewithal to figure the technology out.
Is always going to take a massive amount of resources to get to space.
Resources = wealth
Yes, exactly. Nobody is building and successfully launching a crewed mission to space from their garage. It will always be done by governments, companies, and the insanely rich.
But the question is – why?
In the end, it’s a huge investment of resources; you can’t cheat physics. There is a theoretical floor (and a much higher practical floor) for what you need to get out of Earth’s orbit. And frankly, there isn’t that much to do for you in space as a layperson (not talking about actual astronauts who are rather scientists) except flex on other people.
For what it’s worth; the technology developed for space travel over the years has led to the development of many common everyday items. I agree that space travel itself might not be the best investment but I can appreciate how it pushes the envelope for new tech.
Here’s infograph from nasa website but things like scratch proof lenses, hand vacuums, jaws of life, LED lights, etc…
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel/
My argument wasn’t against space exploration in general, but rather the democratization of space travel as a commodity; as in as in we have already democratized it so far that the trophy wifes of billionaires can travel to space. I’m unsure of scientific advances that has brought and rather think this made someone money
frankly, there isn’t that much to do for you in space as a layperson
That you can think of. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring. Plenty of backyard scientists do some crazy innovation.
With the small detail that failures in your backyard are in general much less catastrophic compared to mishaps in space
I like Honda, you can drive those cars into the ground, they just keep going.
Now if they can pull that off with a rocket…
Just make sure to point it the other way, first.
Where we are going, we don’t need… wheels.
This is the best news I’ve heard all day. Go Honda! Fuck Musk!
Honda is the complete opposite of Leon Hitler and his Space X BS.
Annnnnnnnnnnnd everyone else just been replaced.
Fuck yeah!
Great first step but the vast majority of the work still needs to be done. There’s a big difference in getting 300m to the air and back and low earth orbit but Honda is an excellent candidate to get it done.
How is it a surprise? Honda has had this developing and has been building it for years.
Even if you didn’t read the article, the op helpfully included the first few lines, which say that although Honda had said they were studying rocket technology, they made no announcements about this launch until it had already occurred.
I understand that they made no announcement. I don’t understand how building a rocket could be kept secret.
