Radian Aerospace is planning to build what some have described as one of the holy grails of spaceflight, a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that is capable of taking off from a traditional runway and flying into space without the need for massive rockets.
Progress toward the initiative was shared today via a press release, which confirms that Radian has successfully received $27.5 million in seed funding from Fine Structure Ventures. Radian’s dream of a spaceplane is also being fueled by investments from a long list of additional parties that include EXOR, The Venture Collective, and Helios Capital.
“Radian has operated in stealth mode focusing on the design and initial development of a revolutionary aerospace vehicle that will fill the efficiency and capability gaps that exist with traditional vertical rockets,” Radian explained in its press release.
“With the new investment, the company is on track to advance the development of Radian One, the world’s first fully functional horizontal takeoff and landing, single-stage to orbit vehicle. Radian’s system will be capable of a wide range of space operations including the delivery of people and light cargo to low earth orbit (LEO) with aircraft-like operations.”
Radian Aerospace’s website includes additional concepts of what the space plane might look like and how it’ll function. The vehicle will take off subsonically with full propellant tanks and is capable of landing and launch times as fast as 48 hours, according to a graphic.
Source: Radian Aerospace