Toyota to mass-produce rockets, makes progress on experimental 'Woven City'

Reuters Wires

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A Toyota research unit will invest in Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies (IST) to support mass production of its rockets, the world&#x27;s biggest carmaker group said on Tuesday (January 7), expanding its foray into the space sector. IST said that Woven by Toyota, a Toyota subsidiary that is building a &quot;city of the future&quot; in Japan with autonomous driving technology, will invest about 7 billion yen ($44.4 million) in IST by the first close of its Series F funding. As part of the capital and business tie-up, Woven will appoint a director to IST&#x27;s board and support rocket production by strengthening supply chains and corporate governance, IST said in a statement. The announcement came after Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda&#x27;s speech at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday (January 6), where he gave updates to the company&#x27;s experimental Woven City project, which was announced in 2020. &quot;The future of mobility shouldn&#x27;t be limited to just Earth, or just one car company,&quot; Toyoda said. &quot;Speaking of the sky, we&#x27;re exploring rockets, too.&quot; Apart from launchers, Toyota is building a lunar rover with Japan&#x27;s space agency that can carry astronauts on the moon&#x27;s surface for the NASA-led Artemis program. The commercial race for space has accelerated over the past decade, led by Elon Musk&#x27;s rocket and satellite company SpaceX. The Hokkaido-based IST in 2019 became the first Japanese company to send a commercially developed rocket into space, but its orbital launcher, Zero, remains under development. IST&#x27;s rival Space One last month attempted a second flight of its orbital rocket Kairos, but the launch failed. The Japanese government aims to launch 30 rockets annually by the early 2030s and make Japan Asia&#x27;s space hub, with an 8 trillion yen space industry, granting subsidies to startups such as IST and Space One.

A Toyota research unit will invest in Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies to support mass production of its rockets.

A Toyota research unit will invest in Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies to support mass production of its rockets.

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Toyota to mass-produce rockets, makes progress on experimental 'Woven City'

Toyota to mass-produce rockets, makes progress on experimental 'Woven City'

Reuters

Published Jan 07, 2025 12:55 PM PHT

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Toyota

Interstellar Technologies

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