Honda is developing a small resuable rockets as a part of its spaces operations.
A call with Honda on Oct. 28 demonstrated their prototype engine during a combustion test.
Honda claims they’ve made huge progress in only two years of development.
Honda envisions the rocket carrying payloads of up to about 1 ton.
The original plan called for the launcher to have a resuable first stage.
3D printing or other technologies might make expendable parts more viable.
Honda hopes to conduct a suborbital launch within the decade.
Honda expects to make a final decision about entering the launch industry in 2025 or 2026.
Cybersecurity concerns:
With major car manufacturers entering the space industry, this introduces a new dimension to cybersecurity concerns. Corporate espionage is now a possible threat with corporate spies as new threat actors. These threat actors may be employed by Honda’s competitors to steal valuable data. Cybercrime groups might steal data to sell or hold ransom, and hackivists may steal data for fun. Overall, Honda entering the space industry might set a precedent for other companies to do the same, in which case we need to give greater consideration to the possible cybersecurit concerns.
Critical data/systems:
One critical system mentioned in the article is the engine combustion system Honda demonstrated in their video. Because this a one step in a series of tests that will span a decade, there is a lot of critical data at stake. All of their test data and engine specs are critical data that threat actors might want to acquire.
