Japan successfully tests rocket engine propelled by new technology | The Japan Times

Japan successfully tests rocket engine propelled by new technology

Japan on Tuesday successfully tested a rocket engine that was propelled by new technology using shock waves produced by burning a mixture of methane and oxygen gases, with the aim of applying the propulsion method to deep space exploration in the future, the country’s space agency said.

The No. 31 vehicle of the S-520 sounding rocket series, measuring 8 meters in length and 52 centimeters in diameter and carrying the engine, lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at around 5:30 a.m., according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.


It reached an altitude of 235 kilometers four minutes and four seconds after the launch and landed in the sea southeast of Uchinoura about eight minutes later, with JAXA retrieving a capsule containing test data in nearby waters.


JAXA is currently developing technology that will allow it to utilize a rocket engine just one-10th of the current size that can also stay in space for extended periods.


Jiro Kasahara, a Nagoya University professor, jointly developing the technology with JAXA, said the test demonstrated that the engine maintained a propelling force in space as expected.


“We will aim to put the technology into practical use in about five years,” he said.


“I’m glad the rocket was launched safely,” said Shinsuke Takeuchi, an associate professor at JAXA, who was leading the test launch. He added the test results are expected to be reflected in future academic achievements.
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I had heard about the technology used for a long time from Russian sources who have claimed to build rocket engines with that technology for many years. But the claims they made about the efficiency of the system were ludicrous and I dismissed them for that reason. They also never showed anything operational and never built a rocket driven by it. The claims by the japanese developers make sense and they have built and demonstrated a working system in flight. These engines are a lot lighter and simpler than present engines. They did not make claims about efficiency in form of ISP.

I am looking forward to future developments. Both in engine ISP values and how it scales to larger rocket engines. This one was only a small sounding rocket, but sure an impressive one.