Author Topic: Space One - KAIROS small launch vehicle  (Read 44264 times)

Offline savuporo

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Space One - KAIROS small launch vehicle
« on: 08/07/2017 03:08 am »
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Canon-Electronics-led-team-hopes-to-develop-low-cost-rocket

Quote
Canon Electronics is leading a venture that will work on developing a rocket specifically to carry small satellites into space.

Canon is joining IHI Aerospace, construction company Shimizu and the government-backed Development Bank of Japan in the venture.

The new company will be founded on Wednesday with capital of 200 million yen ($1.8 million). Canon Electronics will take a 70% stake. The three other parties will have stakes of 10%.

The business is not expected to get underway until at least the end of fiscal 2017. When it does begin operating, it will try to meet some of the surging demand to carry small satellites into space with a small, low-cost rocket.

The partners plan to develop the rocket using technology from the SS-520 minirocket owned by JAXA, Japan's space agency.

Canon Electronics supplies the SS-520's control equipment.
« Last Edit: 07/25/2021 02:04 am by zubenelgenubi »
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline Asteroza

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Japanese press release with more details.

PR


New company has a DNS name of nsr-dp.co.jp (no homepage yet)

Top guy appears to be Shinichiro Ota, formerly VP of J-Power (TEPCO) and a former career bureaucrat it seems

太田信一郎 on Wikipedia

Offline savuporo

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The company name is conveniently "New Generation Small Rocket Development Planning Co., Ltd". Hope i spelled that right

https://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Tech/Joint-venture-launches-4-Japanese-companies-into-minirocket-market

Quote
The new company is led by President Shinichiro Ota, a former industry ministry bureaucrat and once the head of the Japan Patent Office. NGSRDP will initially be based at Canon Electronics' headquarters, studying technologies and costs with the hope of starting commercial operations as early as this year.

The joint venture has set a price point of 1 billion yen ($9.1 million) or less per launch -- an amount seen as competitive against overseas rivals. At present, plans call for a rocket smaller than the Epsilon rocket currently under development by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, but larger than JAXA's SS-520 minirocket.
« Last Edit: 08/16/2017 02:15 am by savuporo »
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline Asteroza

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US$9.1 million is low cost and globally market competitive? I suppose if PegasusXL is your benchmark...

RocketLab's Electron is supposed to be around US$5 million for 100Kg/500kmSSO and if their next launch is successful, then their third flight will be commercial. Arguably they are setting the benchmark (roughly US$50K/Kg) and will be hard to compete with since they own their own launchpad and have a comparatively unrestricted launch range. Launcher One is breathing down everyone's neck as well at a similar price point.

Offline Tywin

Other big surprise in the sector the small launcher...with this new company...

Is a joint venture, between other 4 big Japaneses company's...IHI Aerospace, Canon Electronics, Shimizu Corporation, and the Development Bank of Japan  :o

Except the Bank  ??? all the other 3 are involved in the space sector...

żA new giant for this emergent and crowded space?

PD: I hope this give motivation to Shimizu for make space hotel  :D
« Last Edit: 08/17/2017 12:56 am by Tywin »
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Offline Asteroza

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Other big surprise in the sector the small launcher...with this new company...

Is a joint venture, between other 4 big Japaneses company's...IHI Aerospace, Canon Electronics, Shimizu Corporation, and the Development Bank of Japan  :o

Except the Bank  ??? all the other 3 are involved in the space sector...

żA new giant for this emergent and crowded space?

PD: I hope this give motivation to Shimizu for make space hotel  :D

Not really an emergence of a large newspace player. If anything, this is just Canon Electronics moving along in their rocket development and the associated non-technical issues, and interested parties raising their hands, plus an artifact of how companies are incorporated in japan (frequently single purpose subsidiary companies are made to facilitate parent company business activities rather than a direct business division due to the difficulties of changing the articles of incorporation and other factors). It's why the major companies in japan are actually gigantic group companies with very diverse subsidiaries (a real estate subsidiary to manage employee dorms, insurance subsidiary to cover their own employees, travel agencies to handle business trip purchases, etc.)

DBJ is being milked for money, IHI Aerospace is probably building the majority of the rocket so has skin in the game, Canon Electronics is likely providing avionics, and Shimizu is on the tail end because somebody has to build the launchpad.

Shimizu has a reputation of "thinking big" with advanced megaprojects like a lunar solar power ring so they seem space related when at their core they are just a fairly conventional domestic "general contractor" big construction company.

http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/theme/dream/

Their Green Float offshore structure concept is a little bit closer to a practical megastructure proposal (the japanese government is very addicted to big construction projects). They probably have an overstuffed business planning/strategy division that needs to justify its existence, so they have to push out business plans that look "smart" and "forward thinking" to not look like a pack of window seat warmers. That, or they think these materialized thought exercises are actually good practice training for real business plan development, much like MBA case study exercises.


The hard reality is Canon Electronics appears to be bankrolling a JV that they effectively control like a subsidiary, likely as a legal vehicle to insulate themselves for launch liability concerns (various mentions of the new space act law changing liabilities in 2018), and the DBJ wants to "help" a company that is highly cooperative with the government to look like they are hip with the times. Which isn't a great justification for the DBJ when there are smaller groups like Interstellar that have a greater funding need percentage-wise. Interstellar not getting much external investment help from the government is likely punishment for Interstellar being associated with Horie-mon who is clearly anti-establishment (or at least highly disruptive).


There is also the slight taint of scandal with Shinichiro Ota, as some of the mass media press alleged there was "amakudari" involved in him moving from METI to J-Power. "Amakudari" is shorthand japanese for the process where high level career bureaucrats land in cushy private industry positions just after retirement from government (particularly in industries they were previously directly regulating), which some consider to be a signature behavior of the elite establishment who have a tight grip on government and industry. The japanese tabloids regularly have a running rotation of recent amakudari scandals due to the prevalence of such ethically questionable behavior. Whether any of that is actually true or not doesn't matter though in the end, as being a former high level METI man means his rolodex is full of business cards of influential people, which is critical for a business development person helping a startup in regulated industries.

Offline Asteroza

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Looks like they are moving forward with launchpad site selection work.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASGG05H35_V00C17A9MM8000/


With the heavy government cooperation, a first guess would be Uchinoura?

Offline john smith 19

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Amakudari
I the US and Europe that would roughly be the "revolving door" between career bureaucrats (and sometimes the politicians who head their Ministries) and the companies they nominally regulate or purchase from. The Defense industry is particularly prone to this.
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 TBC. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline Asteroza

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looks like the launchpad will be at the tip of Wakayama prefecture, on a new green field site. Possible tracking assets as well.

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20171214-00344444-agara-l30

Though when one considers sea and air routes through the area, one wonders how badly the NOTAM's will screw things up, plus the usual fisherman's cooperatives screaming bloody murder...

There is a late rumor that a JAXA propellant demo in the summer of 2017 was done with cooperation of Canon Electronics Inc.

Additional rumor is Canon Electronics Inc. is committing a ¥30000000000 (roughly $300million) warchest to make this business venture happen, which makes sense considering the land purchases and build up, but no further info such as actual production/test facilities.

Offline Tywin

More info about this Japon company, before called:

"New Generation Small Rocket Development Planning Co., Ltd."


This is the union the big four Japanese companys ç:

Quote
Industry sources say Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, Shimizu Corporation and the Development Bank of Japan, or DBJ, plan to launch a firm to develop next-generation mini rockets

A previous info here:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38583.msg1710545;topicseen#msg1710545

And now a new interview with the president the Canon Electronics:

http://www.the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004658976

The place they found for create her small space port  8) called Kushimoto:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushimoto,_Wakayama

I'm think so this company will give a lot the good news...
« Last Edit: 08/21/2018 06:51 pm by Tywin »
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Offline Asteroza

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #10 on: 08/22/2018 08:15 am »
Can we get a mod to add/alter the name of this thread to mention Space One and maybe consolidate some of the other information?

Edit/Lar: Done

http://www.space-one.co.jp/

So as posted elsewhere here

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46233.0
Edit/Lar: now a post in this same thread: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43529.msg1849171#msg1849171

There is now an english language translation of a recent interview with the president of Canon Electronics.

http://www.the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004658976


Wakayama is pretty much confirmed for the pad, and the company president says he expected to need ¥20000000000 (approx $200 million) for the venture, which aligns with the $300 million warchest rumor.


One can peruse the following google maps link to look at the shoreline of that tip area, though the proximity of residences/farms/minor resorts and public beaches near any candidate small peninsulas is problematic. Nothing as desolate as RocketLab's pad.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B028'00.0%22N+135%C2%B047'00.0%22E/@33.459037,135.7916907,22430m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d33.466667!4d135.783333?hl=en


Naturally no mention in the interview of fishing cooperatives being one of the great factors behind JAXA having limited launch opportunities, which would be the same here...
« Last Edit: 08/22/2018 12:17 pm by Lar »

Offline Asteroza

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #11 on: 10/25/2018 07:49 am »
Sadly behind the AIAA paywall

https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-4753


Canon Electronics provided the low cost solenoid micro-valve for the 0.5N thruster (60g, less than 5W), and also worked on a 4N compatible valve for HNP green monopropellant.


This would suggest a previous rumor about JAXA propellant testing involving Canon Electronics was true, if that meant work on HNP green propellant.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #12 on: 10/25/2018 08:29 am »
I'm a member of the AIAA, but they want $15 to download that paper! What a ripoff. :-(

Bingo! One of the authors is on Research Gate.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hirohide_Ikeda

The paper hasn't been uploaded, but you can make a request to download the paper.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326262933_Development_Status_of_the_05N_class_Low-Cost_Thruster_for_Small_Satellite

I'll make a request and see what happens.
« Last Edit: 10/26/2018 11:03 pm by Steven Pietrobon »
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Offline Asteroza

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #13 on: 03/28/2019 07:22 am »
The town of Kushimoto in Wakayama prefecture is officially named for hosting the launchpad, construction starting 2019, finishing 2021 with business (launch?) start. Guess that 2020 launch is a blowout...

https://www.space-one.co.jp/doc/pressrelease190326_en.pdf

Notably, they list launchpad, rocket assembly building, rocket storage building, payload assembly building, and ancillary buildings.

The press release lists the Tahara area, Kushimoto Town, Higashimuro County, Wakayama Prefecture as the winning site.

Google maps satview of Tawara/Tahara


A quick look at the area leaves so many questions though. They are unlikely to locate near the peninsula next to the port, the peninsula at the south end of the coast has a rail line running close by so that's out. My uneducated guess is the small beach spot peninsula at the northern end of the coastline in that district near Ikeshima Island, as the next spot down is too near houses, and the next spot is a national park. Assuming they don't go farther up the coastline there, but I see no roads in the Uragami area along the coast.


The town that lost out in the competition, Nachikatsuura, was probably proposing the Ukui area

Google Satview of Ukui

Offline Asteroza

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #14 on: 09/13/2019 09:58 am »


Space One appears to have hosted an event in Kushimoto on August 25th called the "Space Symposium in Kushimoto", covered in the following two news articles

https://news.mynavi.jp/article/kushimoto-1/

https://news.mynavi.jp/article/kushimoto-2/

No big news, but they had trouble negotiating with 15 local residents to arrange for the spaceport construction/operation (likely the closest residents to the launchpad). Another takeaway is Space One will try to fill some of their initial launches by plying the Canon group for customers indirectly by having Canon Electronics ply group member companies to buy sats from them, and by extension the needed launch services (businesses love a captive audience...)

Space One's president tries to wave off the competitive pressure of Rocket Labs Electron.

Offline TrevorMonty

Electron isn't only competition, they is Firefly, Relativity, Virgin, few Chinese startups and SpaceX rideshare.

Orbex and PLD Space could also be competitors, although I suspect those two will mostly stick to the European market. Maybe Space One will mostly stick to the Japanese market? Does anyone have any insight on the size of the Japanese smallsat market?
Wait, ∆V? This site will accept the ∆ symbol? How many times have I written out the word "delta" for no reason?

Offline Asteroza

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Re: Space One - Canon led consortium to develop small launchers
« Reply #17 on: 09/17/2019 12:32 am »
Orbex and PLD Space could also be competitors, although I suspect those two will mostly stick to the European market. Maybe Space One will mostly stick to the Japanese market? Does anyone have any insight on the size of the Japanese smallsat market?

I don't have any deep insight, but past launches would suggest japanese payloads have a preference for cheap and non-ITAR regulated. Space One can provide the non-ITAR part, but cheap is another matter. Many past japanese smallsat/cubesat launches were indian rideshare launches, or Dnepr when it was active. There may be some political pressure to fly university/JAXA payloads on a domestic launcher, but nobody who is fully commercial can really justify riding domestic when it costs more (especially if they are newspace startups that have a measure of foreign investment, they will never allow riding on a more expensive rocket for comparable performance/orbit selection).

The good thing going for Space One is that Rocket Labs is now charging more for reusable Electron now, so the price gap is closer now. But they are not flying, and reusable Electron will fly before they even do their first launch, proving reusable Electron flight heritage. Launcher One is going to fly shortly and likely to have several by the time Space One has their first launch, so they will have flight heritage. Whether any of the european newspace launchers who can provide non-ITAR services will fly before before Space One is up for debate, but at least they are showing off their hardware development so you have a sense of progress.

The fact that Space One hasn't even done any PR showcasing hardware is deeply suspicious. Sure, they are not really a venture backed newspace startup, so they have no need to look lively for funding purposes, but people usually like to brag about their accomplishments. Space one is also doing these events, so it's not like they are that tight lipped either. It makes one wonder, have they even finished a PDR yet?

Offline Tywin

They don't even look to have a twitter or other social media account...and her website is very basic...

The good thing about Space One, is they have parents companies, that have deep pockets, so maybe is one of the few small companies that can survive, if the competence drop heavy the price of her launchers...

But we will see how they development...


« Last Edit: 09/17/2019 03:28 am by Tywin »
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Offline Tywin

Cross-post, interesting news about Space One:

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held for what will be Japan's first ever rocket launch site to be operated by a private sector company.
Space One is building the launch site in Kushimoto town, Wakayama Prefecture.


https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191116_19/amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

This site should have similar range of orbits as RL Mahia site. The airtraffic is going be lot higher especially if heading northeast.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38583.msg2015876#msg2015876
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