Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Japanese space startup Interstellar Technologies successfully launched its third rocket to the edge of space at the end of July, this time delivering its first payload, which was later recovered from the sea as planned.
Like its sister rocket Momo7 which conducted a successful test in early July, the Momo6, also dubbed the “Tenga Rocket,” launched from Taiki, Hokkaido. It is believed to have reached 92 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the edge of space.
Interstellar Technologies remains the only private-sector Japanese firm to have reached space on its own.
Interstellar’s partner in this launch was the Tokyo-based firm Tenga, noted for its male masturbation aids. Indeed, one of the Momo6’s two main payloads was the so-called Tenga Robo, shaped and colored like the company’s famous red-and-silver product, and with the slogan “Space Tenga” written on its midsection.
This mission appears to have achieved all of the goals set out for it and has been declared by Interstellar and its partners to have been a complete success.
Interstellar Technologies aims to create a low-cost space rocket service to create “a future where everyone can reach the universe.” It was founded by noted entrepreneur Takafumi Horie.
Takahiro Inagawa, the CEO of Interstellar, commented, “With the completion of our new factory in December last year, it became possible to manufacture multiple rockets at the same time, and two rockets were successfully launched during the course of July. The Momo series rockets will now take a major step up from the stage of experimentation and demonstration of rocket launches to the stage of utilizing them. With the lowest price and highest reliability in the world, we will open up a new market for rocket services.”
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