Radian Aerospace, a startup based in Seattle, has taken a significant step towards realizing the holy grail of space travel: a reusable spacecraft that can take off and land like a conventional aircraft from a runway. The company recently completed a series of ground tests with its PFV01, a small-scale prototype flight vehicle, in Abu Dhabi.
PFV01, described by Radian as a scaled-down version of the final aircraft, is approximately 15 feet long. Despite not achieving flight, the prototype has successfully performed a series of small hops on the runway. According to Livingston Holder, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, these tests have provided invaluable data for the final design and flight control systems. This includes critical information about the position of the landing gear and the center of gravity, which are essential for stability during flight.
Holder explained, This vehicle allows us to adjust the center of gravity both front-to-back and up-and-down, and it also allows us to position the landing gear. These adjustments provide real-world feedback for our analysis, which is crucial for reducing uncertainties. As we accelerate the vehicle and conduct more flights, our analysis process will have a higher fidelity.
The concept of Radian’s spacecraft, dubbed Radian 1, is to take off from a two-mile-long rail track, ignite its engines in orbit, and then return to Earth using a conventional runway. This approach is seen as the holy grail of space travel because it eliminates the need for a launch vehicle, making space flight as routine as air travel.
The economic benefits are also substantial: reusable spacecraft can make multiple trips to space daily, with higher profit margins. Previous attempts at this concept include NASA’s X-33 program, which Livingston Holder led while working at Boeing.
Jeff Feige, Radian’s co-founder and chief operating officer, emphasized that the system is not just about launching satellites. What’s most compelling about this system is that it can perform multiple missions, making it a much larger market than traditional rockets, he said. You can not only launch things but also service them, retrieve them, and even bring the entire payload or satellite back from space. We can send people to space, and theoretically, we can deliver or observe things from the atmosphere.
Feige noted that the design of a spacecraft is fundamentally different from that of a vertical launch rocket, which necessitates a different development process. You have to retire a lot of risk upfront, he said. While rocket companies have to build full-scale vehicles, the incremental development of a spacecraft is more akin to aircraft development.
Radian Aerospace has not disclosed specific technical details from the tests, such as the vehicle’s top speed or the duration of the hops. However, Holder stated that PFV01 reached takeoff speed. The company will now analyze all the data collected from the tests and proceed to higher-speed ground tests and actual flight tests. Simultaneously, Radian is working to secure regulatory approvals to operate and fly from another airport in Abu Dhabi.
The company aims to begin full-scale flights of Radian One by 2028. To date, Radian has raised $27.5 million 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.
Views: 0