Anywhere in the world in less than two hours? In Japan, this is considered quite real in twenty years. Yesterday, May 17, the Mainichi news agency reported that the Japanese government and private companies are preparing to develop intercontinental passenger spacecraft.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has released a roadmap that plans to build spacecraft and infrastructure by 2040. According to forecasts, by 2040, the market for spacecraft departing from and arriving in Japan could reach about 5 trillion yen (about $46 billion).
A rendering of a promising passenger space shuttle
Image source: mainichi.jp
As part of the first stage of the program, it is planned to reduce the cost of the H3 rocket of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as well as make it reusable. Next, passenger vehicles will be developed based on the H3 rocket or its "descendants". These can be space shuttles capable of taking off and landing on an airplane type, as well as rockets with a vertical landing on the type developed by the American company SpaceX.
According to MEXT, flights between major cities located on different continents will last up to two hours. In the future, the demand for high-speed flights will only increase, and the companies offering frequent flights form the largest transportation market.
Earlier, the US Department of Defense signed a contract with SpaceX to develop new transport rockets. It is assumed that the transport rockets will be able to deliver cargo anywhere in the world in less than an hour.
