Japan achieves first reusable rocket landing

O prototype, launched from the test center of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Noshiro (north), reached about 10 meters high on a flight lasting approximately 40 seconds.

“ We have devoted a lot of time and effort to this and, now that the prototype has taken off and landed smoothly, I must say that I feel a great relief,” Takashi Ito, the reporters responsible for the test, said.

The space agency still has to analyze the data to determine the extent of the announced success today, it needed Ito, who said he was “convinced” of having “getting very useful data”.

Most rockets are designed for single use, falling their stages at sea, consuming themselves in the atmosphere or sometimes remaining in orbit as debris.

The development of reusable rockets reduces the costs of space missions considerably.

The US company SpaceX already uses this technology and explores the reusable rocket Falcon 9 since 2017.

China announced this Friday that it had achieved its first landing of a reusable rocket, challenging North American dominance in the sector.

Last June, a Honda subsidiary became the first Japanese company to successfully take off and land a rocket of this type.

Tokyo seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of the space industry and launched, in June, the rocket H3, several months after the failure of a mission aimed at putting a satellite into orbit.

APL // APL

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