The age of reusing rockets like airplanes instead of launching them once and discarding them is opening up. Japan has taken its first step into a competition in which SpaceX has held the lead for nine years.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducted the first flight test of its reusable rocket demonstrator, “RV-X,” at around 6:14 a.m. on July 11 at the Noshiro Rocket Testing Center in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture. According to Nikkei and Kyodo News, the vehicle rose vertically to a height of about 11 meters, hovered briefly in the air, and then moved horizontally about 16 meters before landing. The total flight time was just over 40 seconds.
Takashi Ito, JAXA’s development manager, said, “The vehicle flew normally,” adding, “It has been 10 years since I became involved in the project, and I am relieved that we were able to complete the flight test safely after steadily building up from component testing.” JAXA plans to analyze the flight data to determine whether the test was ultimately a success, and after inspecting the vehicle, it will decide whether to conduct a second test with the same rocket.
— Why a 40-second flight is so difficult
A height of 11 meters is roughly equivalent to a fourth-floor apartment. Yet Japanese media say this short flight compressed the core technologies needed for a reusable rocket.
To reuse a rocket, the launched vehicle must be brought down and landed at a designated point. That requires guidance technology to control the falling vehicle’s attitude and speed in real time, as well as technology to precisely regulate engine thrust until the moment of landing. The vehicle also needs landing legs, which means it must be made lighter. RV-X is 1.8 meters in diameter and 7.3 meters long, and it is equipped with four shock-absorbing landing legs.
The process was not smooth. JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been developing RV-X since 2016. Engine combustion tests were repeated through last year, and the first flight, originally scheduled for March, was postponed because of weather and equipment problems. In that sense, the 40-second flight came after 10 years of development.
The purpose of the test is not limited to flight itself. According to Nikkei, JAXA plans to dismantle and examine the recovered vehicle and engine to step by step determine what metal materials are suitable for reuse and how much maintenance is needed before another launch.
Rockets are exposed to extreme heat during launch. JAXA is reportedly planning to raise the altitude to about 100 meters in future tests.
— Reusing more than half the cost of a rocket
The reason countries are racing to develop reusability is ultimately money. The most expensive part of a rocket is the first stage, where the engines are concentrated. If that stage can be recovered, refurbished, and launched again, production time is shortened and the need for new materials is reduced. That makes it possible to send satellites into orbit more frequently and at lower cost.
The gap is already wide. SpaceX has commercially operated its reusable Falcon 9 since 2017. After separating the second stage carrying the payload, the first stage reverses its engine thrust and returns to land on the ground or on an offshore barge.
In other words, the technology Japan confirmed at an altitude of 11 meters today is the same principle SpaceX has implemented near the boundary of space. SpaceX has also set a record of reusing the same first-stage rocket up to 35 times. With this cost advantage, it has been positioned as a company that is sweeping up much of the world’s satellite-launch demand.
Rivals are moving quickly as well. Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, succeeded in reusing the recovered first stage of its large New Glenn rocket for the first time in April. Chinese state media reported on the 10th, one day before Japan’s test, that China had also succeeded for the first time in recovering a rocket first stage. In Japan, a Honda-affiliated research institute completed an independent reusable rocket takeoff-and-landing test in June last year, becoming the first private company in the country to do so.
This is why the Japanese government is anxious. Japan’s main H3 rocket is a single-use design. Although it was engineered to be cheaper than the previous H2A model, it has long been said that further cost reduction is necessary to compete in the global market.
Japan’s basic space policy includes a goal of drastically reducing launch costs by the early 2040s. The calculation is that lower unit costs through reusable technology will help win overseas satellite-launch contracts.
JAXA aims to introduce some reusable design elements into the successor to H3 and commercialize them in the early 2030s. The data from this test will be reflected in the larger experimental vehicle “Callisto,” which is being jointly developed with Germany and France. Callisto uses the same engine family as RV-X, and a launch is being planned within fiscal 2026.
— South Korea also switched gears, with more than 200 billion won on the line
Last December, the Korea AeroSpace Administration secured approval in a review by the Ministry of Economy and Finance for a revised plan to convert the next-generation launch vehicle project into a reusable model.
The original plan to develop two types of kerosene engines was changed to one 80-ton-class methane engine to be used in both the first and second stages. The total project budget is 2.2921 trillion won. The plan also includes launching a performance verification vehicle in 2031 and sending the lunar lander aboard a domestically built launch vehicle in 2032.
The reason for the shift is no different from Japan’s. The Korea AeroSpace Administration says it revised the plan because it expects demand for national space development to surge in the 2030s and wants to respond in time to the reusable-rocket race led by advanced space nations. Its judgment is that launch vehicles that are used once and thrown away will not be able to handle rising satellite demand.
Development is already moving beyond the design stage. On June 30, the agency held a meeting at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute with participating companies including Hanwha Aerospace, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Rotem, and said the system conceptual design is in its final stage.
According to the agency, securing reusable technology will lower launch costs, shorten launch cycles, and strengthen competitiveness in both satellite launches and deep-space exploration.
However, as Japan’s test showed, reusability is not a shortcut technology. Japan needed 10 years to go from component testing to a 40-second flight, and SpaceX also reached its current position only after several landing failures.
For South Korea, which is a latecomer in launch vehicles, whether it can achieve both lunar landing and reusable-rocket development on the same timetable is expected to be the key issue going forward. The 40 seconds in Japan can be read as a scene that once again underscored the schedule South Korea’s space development is facing.