JAXA To Test Vertical-Landing Reusable Vehicle Demonstrator
First flight of a small experimental version of a reusable launch vehicle has been scheduled for March 6 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The 24-ft.-tall vertical-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (VTVL) RV-X is planned to make a short hop at the agency鈥檚 Noshiro Rocket Testing Center on the Sea of Japan coast.
RV-X is the first of two flight experiments planned by JAXA on the path to development of a reusable first stage for a next-generation launch vehicle. A second vehicle is planned to fly in 2027 under the multinational Callisto program (for Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation for Toss-Back Stage Operation).
The RV-X and Callisto projects are intended to acquire technology for safely operating reusable launch vehicles using liquid hydrogen as a fuel. This offers a higher specific impulse than kerosene or methane, for a lighter vehicle, but poses handling challenges, JAXA says.
Excluding its landing gear, the RV-X is 6.76 m (22 ft.) tall and 1.83 m dia., with a total weight of 3,138 kg (6,918 lb.) including 728 kg of liquid oxygen and 127 kg of liquid hydrogen. This powers a single 40-kN (9,000-lb. thrust) expander bleed cycle rocket engine that can gimbal by up to 5 deg. to provide pitch and yaws control in vertical flight.
The RV-X has been under development since early 2017, says JAXA, with engine ground firing tests conducted in October 2018 to validate basic performance and from March 2020 to September 2021 to confirm the feasibility of high-frequency repeated operation. Preparation for flight tests has been underway since 2022 and ground firing tests of the vehicle were conducted in December.
Two flights are planned for March 7 and 14 with the objective of demonstrating guidance control and reusable operation. The RV-X is planned to lift off vertically to an altitude of 10 m, translate horizontally for 15 m and land vertically. Each flight is planned to last about 40 sec., JAXA says.
The main objectives of test runs are to demonstrate thrust-powered landing techniques, pump-powered engine deep throttling, gimbal control and the post-landing operations required for turnaround between flights. The effect of takeoff and landing on vehicle health will also be assessed.
The Callisto demonstrator program is being conducted jointly by JAXA with French aerospace research agency Onera and German aerospace center DLR. Flight tests at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guina, are planned to begin in Japan鈥檚 fiscal 2026, which starts in April.
Equipped with the same engine as the RV-X, the Callisto is 13.5 m long, 1.1 m in diameter and weighs about 3,600 kg. The project aims to demonstrate the capabilities and technologies required to develop, operate and commercialize an operational, reusable VTVL rocket first stage.