Why Honda is suddenly launching reusable rockets
In June of this year, Honda launched and landed a prototype, 20-foot-long reusable rocket at its research facility in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island.
Though the company is known mainly as an innovative and iterative carmaker, it is also a transportation conglomerate, having developed and produced motorcycles, scooters, e-bikes, ATVs, boat motors, and even jets. Its skunkworks R&D center built the world's first in-car navigation system, the first mass-produced automatic braking system, and the first production Level-3 autonomous driving system. Still, aiming toward the stars and potentially launching a competitor to Elon Musk's Space …