Seattle, Washington – Radian Aerospace, a Seattle-basedstartup, has taken a significant step towards realizing its vision of a reusable spaceplane that can take off from and land on a runway like a conventional aircraft. Thecompany recently completed a series of ground tests in Abu Dhabi, marking a key milestone in its development journey.
The tests involved a small-scale prototype called PFV01, which is significantly smaller than the final spacecraft, measuring approximately 15 feet in length. The primary objective was to gather data on the vehicle’s flight and handling characteristics, comparing these findings with simulations conducted over the past few years.While the prototype did not achieve flight, it successfully performed a series of short hops on the runway.
This vehicle allowed us to shift the center of gravity forward and back, up and down, and it also allowed us to adjust thelanding gear position, explained Livingston Holder, co-founder and CTO of Radian Aerospace. These adjustments provided real-world feedback for our analytical data.
Holder emphasized the importance of these tests in reducing uncertainty and improving the accuracy of their analysis. Wherever there was uncertainty… this is one of the things that the PFVreally gave us the opportunity to do, is to reduce that uncertainty, so that as we get the vehicle up to speed and do more flights, our analytical process has better fidelity, he said.
Radian’s Radian 1 spaceplane is designed to take off from a roughly two-mile-long orbital sled, ignite its engines in orbit, and then return to Earth on a conventional runway. This concept is considered the holy grail of space travel, as it eliminates the need for rockets and, in a sense, allows spacecraft to access space in a similar manner to how airplanes traverse the upper atmosphere.
The economic benefits ofsuch a system are significant. Reusable spaceplanes could potentially travel to and from space daily, or even more frequently, with higher profit margins. Previous attempts have been made, most notably with NASA’s X-33 program, which aimed to develop a suborbital spaceplane. Holder himself led the X-33 programat Boeing.
The least interesting thing about this system is that it can launch satellites, said Jeff Feige, co-founder and COO of Radian Aerospace. What’s really impressive about Radian is that it’s a system that can perform multiple missions, so it can essentially go into amuch larger market than traditional rockets. You can not only launch things, but you can service them, you can recover them. We can bring whole payloads or satellites back from space. We can take people up. We can dive into the atmosphere, and theoretically we can drop things off or observe things on Earth. So ourscope of capabilities is much broader.
Feige highlighted the distinct design of the spaceplane, which differs significantly from vertical rockets. This difference necessitates a distinct development process, requiring a more gradual approach similar to aircraft development. A lot of risk has to be retired upfront, he explained. While rocket companies typically build full-scale vehicles, the incremental development of spaceplanes allows for a more iterative approach.
While Radian Aerospace did not disclose specific technical metrics from the recent tests, such as the prototype’s top speed or glide duration, Holder confirmed that PFV01 reached takeoff speed. The company will now analyze the collected databefore embarking on a series of higher-speed glide tests and eventually, actual flight tests. Simultaneously, they will seek regulatory approval to operate and fly at another airport in the UAE.
Radian Aerospace aims to begin full-scale flight operations of the Radian One spaceplane by 2028. The companyhas raised a known $27.5 million in funding from investors including Fine Structure Ventures, EXOR, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, SpaceFund, Gaingels, The Private Shares Fund, Explorer 1 Fund, and Type One Ventures.
The successful completion of these ground tests marks a significant stepforward for Radian Aerospace, bringing them closer to their goal of revolutionizing space travel with a reusable spaceplane capable of operating like a conventional aircraft. With their ambitious timeline and impressive investor support, Radian Aerospace is poised to make a major impact on the future of space exploration and commercialization.
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