Honda's full-scale eVTOL demonstrator, designated F1, completed its first flight in the US, hovering for about 90 seconds. Instead of going all-electric, Honda chose a gas-turbine hybrid built for 400km-plus intercity range. Here's the contrarian bet, and the F1 and HondaJet technology behind it.
JAL, JALUX and ispace have unveiled ARGO PROJECT, the first lunar transport service run by an airline. A box called Möbius Ark will carry cultural items to the Moon on ispace's Mission 3 in 2028. Here is why a 75-year-old airline is moving into space logistics.
Japanese Unreal Engine studio Historia has unveiled REAL MOON Studio, a lunar digital twin recreating a 240km by 240km stretch of the Moon's south pole. Built on joint research with JAXA, it lets engineers rehearse rover routes, preview camera shots, and plan lunar bases - a look at how game-engine technology is quietly joining the global Moon race.
Tohoku University researchers have proven for the first time that microscopic surface roughness can reduce air drag by up to 43.6%, overturning an 80-year-old fluid mechanics consensus dating back to the 1940s. Here is what this discovery could enable for aircraft, cars, ships, bullet trains, and drones, and how it differs from riblets and golf ball dimples.
Terra Drone has unveiled flight footage of its fixed-wing interceptor drone Terra A2 — 75km range, 312km/h top speed, 40-minute endurance. CEO Toru Tokushige outlined the layered air defense vision in a United24 Media interview. Inside the modern methods of stopping Shahed-type kamikaze drones and the new air defense economics being shaped by a Japanese startup.
On April 13, 2029, the 450m asteroid Apophis will pass just 32,000 km above Earth. Japan and Europe are joining forces on RAMSES, the next planetary defense mission after NASA's DART. JAXA provides the infrared imager, solar panels, and H3 rocket launch as a rideshare with DESTINY+, stepping up as US budget cuts threaten its own Apophis mission.
A Japanese team led by NAOJ has detected an atmosphere on a small trans-Neptunian object beyond Pluto for the first time, using a stellar occultation observed simultaneously from three sites across Japan. Here is how the pro-amateur collaboration worked, and why it rewrites textbooks on the outer solar system.
Yamaguchi's premium sake brand Dassai and Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries brewed sake in space for the first time in human history. The result was a single 100ml bottle, priced at about $700,000, and it sold. Inside the Dassai MOON Project, the long-term plan to build a brewery on the Moon, plus practical brewery-tour information for visitors to Iwakuni, Yamaguchi.
Toshiba Energy Systems, Airbus, and Toyota are racing to commercialize superconducting motors that promise 10x the power density of conventional motors. Dubbed the 'ultimate motor,' the technology enables hydrogen aircraft and hydrogen-engine cars while leveraging Japan's decades of niche superconductor expertise. As eVTOL startups falter, why is Japan's aviation motor technology suddenly central to the global decarbonization race?
JAXA confirms H3 No.8 failure was caused by satellite adapter delamination. On June 12, the minimum 'Type 30' configuration without boosters launched successfully for the first time. Japan's environmental satellites vs China's Daqi-2.
Waseda University, JAXA, the University of Tokyo, and Keio University have completed Japan's first Mach 5 combustion test using a hypersonic experimental aircraft. How does Japan's passenger-focused strategy compare with the US (Hermeus, Lockheed) and a militarily advanced China?