SPACE WALKER

SPACE WALKER, Inc. is a Tokyo University of Science-certified startup founded in December 2017, developing reusable winged rockets (spaceplanes) to make space travel as accessible as commercial air travel. The company acts as an integrator within an open innovation consortium spanning industry, government, and academia, taking university research from basic R&D through to real-world implementation.

At the core of SPACE WALKER's technology is its "ECO ROCKET" spaceplane program, which combines a fully autonomous flight system using optimal trajectory generation and advanced guidance, navigation and control with a world-first lightweight linerless composite cryogenic propellant tank. The vehicles are powered by carbon-neutral liquefied biomethane and liquid oxygen, aiming to reduce ocean dumping through reusability and cut the environmental footprint of launch compared to conventional expendable rockets.

The company is pursuing a staged roadmap: a winged test rocket demonstrating GNC, composite tank and methane engine technology (2026), a suborbital spaceplane for science missions and small satellite launch under the FuJin/RaiJin program (2028), a crewed suborbital space tourism vehicle named NagaTomo (2030), and a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle for point-to-point transport and space travel in the 2040s.

Beyond launch vehicles, SPACE WALKER is commercializing its composite tank technology for terrestrial hydrogen and clean-energy applications, including cryogenic liquid tanks and ultra high-pressure Type IV gas tanks for hydrogen trailers, refueling stations, and fuel cell drones, supporting Japan's decarbonization and hydrogen economy goals.