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

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    8 hours ago

    But the question is – why?

    My honest belief is that somehow, spaceflight is good for the people in the US because it creates jobs:

    Think of how the Space Race of the 1960s brought jobs all across America. On top of that, it inspired a generation of scientists.

    Both are valuable for a society, especially for the US, where these kinds of jobs are especially desirable.

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      8 hours ago

      The problem in the US isn’t lack of jobs, it’s lack of pay, crippling debt and rising cost of living. People have trouble fitting all those jobs into their lives. Normal people are getting squeezed and social protections are weak. More jobs won’t fix it