ROTARY ROCKET has secured $6 million of initial financing from private investors to begin design of its Roton re-usable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites will build the Roton, which will take off like a conventional booster, but land like an unpowered helicopter. The first flight is scheduled for 1999.
The unmanned vehicle is intended to carry a 3,200kg payload into low-Earth orbit at a launch cost of $2,200/kg, compared with current prices of around $22,000/kg, says the Redwood Shores, California-based firm. Turnaround between flights will be one or two days, it claims.
The Roton will have an aerospike engine, with an internal "rotor" for centrifugal pumping of the kerosene and liquid-oxygen propellants to pressurise the 192 small combustion chambers, eliminating the need for turbopumps, the company says. Three rotor blades will be deployed during re-entry and the vehicle will autorotate to a vertical landing.
Source: Flight International
