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NASASpaceflight.com
@nasaspaceflight.com

Honda R&D, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Company on Tuesday, June 17th conducted a launch and landing test of an experimental reusable rocket developed independently by Honda. The test was completed successfully, the first time Honda landed a rocket after reaching an altitude of 300 meters.

394 reposts2.2K likes

NASASpaceflight.com
@nasaspaceflight.com

The experimental rocket is 6.3 m in length, 85 cm in diameter, 900 kg dry weight/1,312 kg wet weight. The test took place at a Honda facility in Taiki Town, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, at 16:15 JST / 7:15 UTC.

Bahhhb
@americanbahhb.bsky.social

True. But it's a market that expands to fit the capability. If you have a telecom startup, and you're forced to use other people's backbone networks, it's all costs. If you make your OWN backbone network, suddenly it goes from ongoing cost to something you can sell to others. Same with low-G

Bahhhb
@americanbahhb.bsky.social

manufacturing, travel - I mean: how big is the market for a Transatlantic flight that takes 30 minutes; or one to India that takes 45, or Australia, etc? Then there's shipping of valuable items the same route. Space tourism is expensive...but only a few $100k. On a cheaper system, maybe it's $10k.

Ed
@edciting.bsky.social

"...it's a market that expands to fit the capability." Aspirational. Bought a new iPod lately? You don't need one cuz technology made it unnecessary, except for very narrow use cases. Physically moving millions of tons of stuff off the planet may turn out in a similar fashion.

Bahhhb
@americanbahhb.bsky.social

Congrats! You're not trying to distance yourselves from a certain multi-billionaire who currently has the only human-rated to orbit spacecraft in America? I hope so. (PS Musk: catching your rocket in a pair of arms is stupid: how is that gonna work in a place without a landing platform? Durrr)

Huggy Kitty Cat
@huggykitty.bsky.social

I also deeply appreciate how they are not robbing people's healthcare money and social security in order to fund failed rocket launches that put people's lives in danger and cause unnecessary pollution/damage for a failed project. Thanks, Honda!😺

Andrew Dvorak
@andrewdvorak.bsky.social

I tried to make a joke about this, but seriously, I wish all these engineer's and scientist's focused on Planet Earth. Great we can reuse a rocket, but how come we can't rebuild an ocean or reduce Methane emissions or get us off fossil fuels?

A Seasonally Beastlier McGee
@beastlymcgee.bsky.social

Scientists are also focusing on Earth. A new biodegradable plastic has just been discovered. Biologists are using sound to recover coral reefs. machines are being built to collect waste in the oceans. Renewable energy is on the rise. But capitalists banking on oil are sabotaging efforts.

Andrew Dvorak
@andrewdvorak.bsky.social

Also, I'm always reminded of Jeff Goldblum's character Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop and think if they should." This is a sentiment, or ethics issue, that more scientists should think about.

Bahhhb
@americanbahhb.bsky.social

Same principles, different fuel. There's really is not all that much distance between modern amateur rocketry and professional. It's mainly scale - and if you look at the amateurs doing liquid fuel, it's only a matter of time before we get human amateur spaceflight.