Honda Small Rocket Launcher

[Stan-1967]

Nice!   the acoustics made me flashback to Masten's Xombie & other pathfinding rockets, only this one incorporated features from F9 that scale up for booster recovery.   Shutdown looked very clean and throttling down at a near hover for landing looked very precise.  TBH this looks  way better than anything China has done, & looks close ( but not quite) on par with New Shephard.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Faint blue-ish engine exhaust. Is this Methalox?

Apparently yes (also confirms that multiple engines were used): https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/4770428f664b630f46b90894a2b741123f9610ef

[TrevorMonty]

Faint blue-ish engine exhaust. Is this Methalox?

Apparently yes (also confirms that multiple engines were used): https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/4770428f664b630f46b90894a2b741123f9610ef

Suborbital version in 2029. No date for orbital version.

[theinternetftw]

A shot with humans for scale from the press release.

[catdlr]

A shot with humans for scale from the press release.

Oversize Masten's Xombie.  Or, maybe close to what Mastin was headed for: XAERO

[Mahurora]

Before it was Honda Jet and now this... Honda always pulls it off when more traditional Japanese players in aerospace with government support always fumbles (MRJ, RV-X, CALLISTO).

[SciNews]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTw-VlOYNkQ

[Comga]

Wow
A successful F9R-DEV equivalent flight with New Glenn’s clean propellant combo in a half-scale Falcon-1 size.

If a business case could be made for an Alpha sized reusable Electron competitor, Honda would have it nailed.

[Skye]

Absolutely wonder! I had no idea Honda was doing anything of the sort. Super cool to see this

[JulesVerneATV]

Honda today carried out a 271-metre altitude, 56-second reusable rocket launch and landing test
https://global.honda/jp/topics/2025/c_2025-06-17c.html

online translator

This was Honda's first takeoff and landing experiment to verify the elemental technologies necessary for rocket reuse, such as the vehicle's stability during ascent and descent and its landing function. As a result, the vehicle's takeoff and landing behavior was successfully performed as targeted (reached altitude 271.4m, error from target landing position 37cm, flight time 56.6 seconds), and data was acquired during ascent and descent.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. President and CEO Toshihiro Sanbe commented: "With the success of this takeoff and landing test, I am pleased that we have been able to advance the research phase of reusable rockets one step further. I believe that rocket research is a meaningful endeavor that utilizes Honda's technological capabilities. Honda will continue to take on challenges so that we can continue to provide various services and value to customers through our products, as well as work on the environment and safety, and provide new value to people's time and space."

[Tywin]

Maybe with suborbital rocket, they can clone the New Shepard, and entrance in the suborbital tourism...

[BN]

whoever is leading this program seems fairly aligned with elon's concept for starship.

interesting that they started with such a narrow diameter for the hopper.

[AndrewM]

Sounds like the next milestone is 1km by 2027.

He did note that Honda planned to continue testing those technologies, such as a flight to 1,000 meters by 2027 and a full suborbital flight by 2029. He did not disclose how much Honda had spent on the vehicle or the budget for those future tests.

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5024/1 [July 14]

[catdlr]

Honda 本田技研工業
@HondaJP
Translated from Japanese
Rocket delivery complete! Be sure to check out the real thing at the venue

https://twitter.com/HondaJP/status/1982658517535281412

[catdlr]

C.R.S.
@ExploitExpert
New photos of Honda's reusable rocket. The grid fins are indented inside of the booster. It looks like the second stage is reusable as well, as you can see the lines of the landing legs.

https://twitter.com/ExploitExpert/status/1983557229040275602

[Galactic Penguin SST]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTCMHnNY0cs

[Asteroza]

C.R.S.
@ExploitExpert
New photos of Honda's reusable rocket. The grid fins are indented inside of the booster. It looks like the second stage is reusable as well, as you can see the lines of the landing legs.

https://twitter.com/ExploitExpert/status/1983557229040275602

I wonder if the embedded grid fin design doubles as a hot staging ring exhaust...