A passenger-carrying reusable
SSTO
VTOL rocket designed to carry 50 passengers to 200 km Earth orbit started as part of a study program by the
Japanese Rocket Society
. Since none of the space agencies of the world were studying how to make launch services available to the general public, the
JRS
started a Space Tourism Study Program in 1993, with the objective of
getting the price of a flight to orbit down to around $10,000 per
passenger. Work on
Kankoh-maru has grown steadily in depth and breadth ever since, and has helped to accelerate the acceptance of space tourism as the direction for space development work today.
Based loosely on earlier designs such as the " Phoenix", the design has been described in a number of publications (many by
Isozaki), and is currently being further refined in the third phase of the
JRS study (See: The JRS Space Tourism Study Program Phase 2
).
(In Japanese, "Kankoh" means tourism, and "Maru" means circle, symbol of Japan. Most ships are called "Something-Maru" so Kankoh-maru
means roughly "SS Tourism". In 1852 the Dutch government gave the
Japanese government its first modern ship, a steam and sail-powered
ship. This was called "
Kankoh-maru", though at that time the implication of the name is said to have been more nearly "Light of the Nation".)
VTOL rocket designed to carry 50 passengers to 200 km Earth orbit started as part of a study program by the
Japanese Rocket Society. Since none of the space agencies of the world were studying how to make launch services available to the general public, the
JRS
started a Space Tourism Study Program in 1993, with the objective of
getting the price of a flight to orbit down to around $10,000 per
passenger. Work on
Kankoh-maru has grown steadily in depth and breadth ever since, and has helped to accelerate the acceptance of space tourism as the direction for space development work today.
Based loosely on earlier designs such as the " Phoenix
", the design has been described in a number of publications (many by
Isozaki), and is currently being further refined in the third phase of the
JRS study (See: The JRS Space Tourism Study Program Phase 2).
(In Japanese, "Kankoh" means tourism, and "Maru" means circle, symbol of Japan. Most ships are called "Something-Maru" so Kankoh-maru
means roughly "SS Tourism". In 1852 the Dutch government gave the
Japanese government its first modern ship, a steam and sail-powered
ship. This was called "
Kankoh-maru", though at that time the implication of the name is said to have been more nearly "Light of the Nation".)
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