Astrobotic eyes navy clients for reusable Xogdor suborbital rocket

WASHINGTON — Astrobotic, an organization that develops automobiles for house exploration missions, is making a strategic transfer into the protection sector with its Xogdor reusable rocket, designed to check payloads on the fringe of house.

Masten Area Methods, an organization acquired by Astrobotic in 2022, began growing the suborbital Xogdor automobile in 2021. The rocket, anticipated to debut in 2025, is funded by a NASA contract, “however we’re additionally taking a look at functions to assist the Division of Protection,” Sean Bedford, Astrobotic’s director of enterprise improvement for propulsion programs, mentioned in an interview final week on the Area Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Astrobotic’s present Xodiac and Xombie suborbital rockets fly from Mojave, California, and the corporate is in discussions with the Air Drive to fly Xogdor from Edwards Air Drive Base.   

The corporate earlier this month introduced it signed a cooperative settlement with the U.S. Air Drive Analysis Laboratory (AFRL) Rocket Propulsion Division, based mostly at Edwards. Astrobotic and AFRL will collaborate on the event of liquid rocket engine applied sciences and flight testing alternatives.

Bedford mentioned Astrobotic plans to supply the liquid-fueled Xogdor — 27 ft tall and about three ft in diameter — to the U.S. Air Drive, the Missile Protection Company and different protection organizations to be used as a testing and analysis platform, and for transportation. “We predict the alternatives to leverage a platform like this are intensive and so they haven’t absolutely been explored.”

Protection functions

Xogdor’s reusability interprets to quicker turnaround instances between missions, enabling extra frequent testing alternatives, he mentioned. Potential functions embrace suborbital atmospheric analysis, testing of missile protection programs and hypersonic weapons, and point-to-point cargo supply. Xogdor’s supersonic capabilities might be helpful for simulating the re-entry profiles of shorter-range tactical missiles.

Whereas the reusable rocket revolution has been spearheaded by SpaceX and its Falcon 9 orbital launch automobile, the idea of reusable suborbital rockets like Astrobotic’s Xogdor has acquired comparatively much less consideration, Bedford mentioned. 

“We anticipate that there are going to be various completely different variants of this automobile. Proper now we’re growing Block 1 and count on to fly it in 2025,” he mentioned. “We anticipate a substitute for sounding rockets for Block 2 that’ll be primarily targeted on getting up above the Karman Line to related altitudes, having the ability to present entry to the house atmosphere, but additionally to do some fairly cool issues that you could solely do with liquid rockets.”

Rocket cargo

The navy’s “rocket cargo” program is a significant alternative, Bedford mentioned. 

“Xogdor’s predecessors, together with our Xodiac and Xombie rockets, have executed short-range point-to-point flights since 2009,” he mentioned. However these had been low-speed hops of a number of hundred meters.  Xogdor’s preliminary flight qualification marketing campaign will embrace a progressive collection of multi-kilometer point-to-point flights to reveal its method and touchdown operations, he added.

“Beginning with the Block 2 variant, Xogdor automobiles will probably be able to supersonic flight speeds, ranges of a number of hundred kilometers, microgravity environments, and entry to suborbital house.”

Whereas most trendy sounding rockets use stable propellant, Bedford mentioned Astrobotic hopes that Xogdor will develop into the primary absolutely reusable liquid-fueled platform for sounding rocket missions.

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