The vehicle, dubbed Radian One, claims to be the “first fully reusable, single-stage spaceplane to orbit.”
The American aerospace company Radian Aerospace has publicly announced this January 19 its plans to build a “revolutionary” reusable spacecraft, which will be able to take off and land from airports and fly again within 48 hours.
Radian Aerospace, a startup emerging from stealth after raising a $27.5 million seed round, is aiming to develop a fully-reusable spaceplane called Radian One, to carry cargo and crew to low Earth orbit:https://t.co/pqXN8W6m4Q pic.twitter.com/URnoPuMdrj
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) January 19, 2022
According to the ‘start-up’, which has already managed to raise an initial $27.5 million for the development of the device, called Radian One, it will be the “first fully reusable , single-stage, horizontal takeoff and landing spaceplane to orbit”. These promised features set it apart from NASA’s space shuttles that launched vertically with the use of solid booster rockets.
In addition, from Radian Aerospace they assure that the manned spacecraft will be able to remain in orbit for up to five days, fulfilling “flexible missions”. It will then make landfall on any runway, the length of which must be no less than 10,000 feet ( 3,048 meters ), and can be put into service again in just two days.
As for its functionality, Radian One is envisioned to be capable of providing ” a wide range of space operations , including sending people and light cargo to low-Earth orbit with aircraft-like operations.”
The startup’s CEO, Richard Humphrey, said they are trying to make space travel “almost as simple and comfortable” as airplane travel. In addition, he emphasized that Radian One will focus on missions that would provide a better life “on our own planet,” such as global rapid delivery services, research, manufacturing in space, and Earth observation.
