TOKYO — Despite a successful test flight of a reusable launch vehicle prototype last month, Honda has yet to decide whether to pursue development of an operational vehicle.
Honda surprised many in the space community June 17 when it announced it flew a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing vehicle at a company test site in Hokkaido. The rocket-powered vehicle ascended to an altitude of 271.4 meters on the flight before landing back on its launch pad 56.6 seconds later.
The company called the flight a success, noting that the vehicle, 6.3 meters long and 85 centimeters in diameter, landed back on the pad with an accuracy of 37 centimeters.
The flight, not announced in advance, took many in the industry off-guard. The flight took place during the Paris Air Show, where European officials said they were preparing to ship Themis, an ESA-funded vehicle to demonstrate landing technologies, to the Esrange Space Centre in Sweden for long-delayed hop tests. Some industry officials at the show contrasted the slow development of Themis with Honda’s progress.
The Honda test, though, was years in the making, a company executive said in a July 8 speech at the Spacetide conference here. Keiji Ohtsu, president and representative director of Honda R&D Co., said the project started when a young engineer at the company noted that Honda possessed, through its work on automobiles, many key technologies that could be used for a rocket, from combustion and fluid management to autonomous controls.
He said the company started tests of engine technology in 2019, along with other vehicle subsystems. The company also performed a hovering test using a small vehicle before the June flight.
That June flight, he said, successfully demonstrated all the key technologies for the vehicle, from the performance of its engine to guidance and control systems. That included use of grid fins for control as well as retraction and extension of landing legs.
Despite the success, Ohtsu said that the effort was still solely a research and development project. “The takeoff and landing test was successful, but we are still in the elemental research stage,” he said in translated remarks. “Nothing has been decided yet for commercialization.”
Honda plans to continue work on the technology, though, with a goal of performing a flight to an altitude of one kilometer in 2027 and a full suborbital flight by 2029.
Ohtsu said the company sees potential in reusable launch vehicle technology to serve the growing demand for satellites and space-based data. “We want to use our technology to enrich the lives of people on Earth from space,” he said.
The launch vehicle R&D project is one of several space technology projects at Honda. Another is development of regenerative fuel cells. In April, Honda announced it was working with Sierra Space and Tec-Masters to test that technology on the International Space Station in 2027.
Honda is also working on robotics technologies, leveraging its past work on humanoid robotics. That includes development of robotic manipulators as dexterous as the human hands. That technology, he said, could be used for “avatar” robots on the moon that are controlled by humans or operate autonomously using artificial intelligence.
The same technology, he added, could be used to support satellite refueling. Honda is working with satellite servicing company Astroscale on such applications, with the goal of a flight demonstration by 2029.