The spacecraft Radian One with its three rocket engines lifts off horizontally using rocket sled saving a lot of fuel. It will reach orbit where it spends up to five days. Upon return, it will land like an airplane on any at least three kilometers long runway.
Image by Christian Bodhi from Pixabay
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A new contestant has entered the race for commercial space travel. Out of nowhere the start-up Radian Aerospace has appeared and announced they have 27.5 million dollars to develop a single-stage spacecraft Radian One. It should lift off and land horizontally just like a normal plane.
In past years, space is finally opening up to commercial operations. Private companies are carrying cargo and even astronauts onto the ISS and release many many satellites. But when it comes to the process of carrying cargo into orbit itself there are so far only two ways to do it. Either using a multi-stage rocket or small rockets that start in the air from an airplane.
This is where Radian Aerospace wants to step into the unknown and carry loads onto orbit using a delta-wing spacecraft about the size of a small jet airplane using both horizontal lift-off and landing.
But to get to the necessary speed to get to orbit the start will significantly differ from an airplane. The Radian One spacecraft should start using a rocket sled to save as much fuel as possible. Once off the ground its three rocket engines will handle getting into orbit with minimal G-force overload. The crew will be able to be in space for up to five days and after that, the spacecraft can land on any runway that is at least 3,000 meters long.
The company assumes the spacecraft will be able to go back in just 48 hours. Sadly, at this time we do not have more information apart from that Radian Aerospace doesn’t want to focus on tourism. They want to focus on research, production in space, long-range research of the Earth, and quick global cargo transport.
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