AIRLINK 173.15 Increased By ▲ 15.74 (10%)
BOP 10.63 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (2.51%)
CNERGY 8.59 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (3.25%)
CPHL 95.99 Increased By ▲ 3.10 (3.34%)
FCCL 47.65 Increased By ▲ 0.92 (1.97%)
FFL 15.35 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (3.16%)
FLYNG 28.00 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (3.78%)
HUBC 139.20 Increased By ▲ 5.19 (3.87%)
HUMNL 12.90 Increased By ▲ 0.38 (3.04%)
KEL 4.55 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (8.08%)
KOSM 5.57 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (3.34%)
MLCF 63.10 Increased By ▲ 2.22 (3.65%)
OGDC 215.79 Increased By ▲ 7.27 (3.49%)
PACE 5.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.78%)
PAEL 44.86 Increased By ▲ 4.08 (10%)
PIAHCLA 18.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-1.44%)
PIBTL 10.44 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.61%)
POWER 12.15 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (1.59%)
PPL 174.00 Increased By ▲ 5.23 (3.1%)
PRL 36.46 Increased By ▲ 1.43 (4.08%)
PTC 23.69 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (3.04%)
SEARL 95.40 Increased By ▲ 2.30 (2.47%)
SSGC 39.13 Increased By ▲ 3.56 (10.01%)
SYM 13.95 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (2.12%)
TELE 7.22 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (3.88%)
TPLP 10.25 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.5%)
TRG 64.00 Increased By ▲ 3.33 (5.49%)
WAVESAPP 10.06 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (3.71%)
WTL 1.33 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (2.31%)
YOUW 3.71 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (1.64%)
BR100 12,529 Increased By 289.7 (2.37%)
BR30 37,760 Increased By 1366.8 (3.76%)
KSE100 116,549 Increased By 2395.5 (2.1%)
KSE30 35,902 Increased By 701.6 (1.99%)

A Toyota, research unit will invest in Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies (IST) to support mass production of its rockets, the world’s biggest carmaker group said on Tuesday, expanding its foray into the space sector.

IST said that Woven by Toyota, a Toyota subsidiary that is building a “city of the future” 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’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’s speech at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday, where he gave updates to the company’s experimental Woven City project, which was announced in 2020.

“The future of mobility shouldn’t be limited to just Earth, or just one car company,” Toyoda said. “Speaking of the sky, we’re exploring rockets, too.”

Apart from launchers, Toyota is building a lunar rover with Japan’s space agency that can carry astronauts on the moon’s surface for the NASA-led Artemis programme.

The commercial race for space has accelerated over the past decade, led by Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX.

Toyota cuts 2026 global EV output plans by a third, Nikkei reports

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’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’s space hub, with an 8 trillion yen space industry, granting subsidies to startups such as IST and Space One.

Comments

200 characters