Roton
An American design for a piloted commercial space vehicle intended to provide
routine access to orbit for a two-person crew and cargo. The Roton would
be a reusable, single-stage-to-orbit
(SSTO), vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle, 19.5 m high and 6.7
m in diameter, able to carry up to 3,200 kg to and from a 300 km-high orbit.
It would takeoff vertically powered by NASA's Fastrac
engine burning liquid oxygen and jet fuel, then circularize its orbit
following main engine cutoff with orbital maneuvering engines. Once its
payload was deployed and any return cargo captured, the Roton would reenter
and descend using a four-blade, nose-mounted rotor. During the high-speed
phases of flight, the base of the vehicle would create most of the drag
while the rotor remained windmilling behind, stabilizing the vehicle until
it reached subsonic speed. Then the rotor would be spun up and the blades
enter a helicopter-style autorotation flight mode, enabling the pilot to
glide the craft to a precision landing.
The manufacturer, Rotary Rocket Company, expected a market to develop whereby
satellite operators and insurance companies sent rescue missions to repair
or retrieve damaged or outdated satellites. But although the Roton Air Test
Vehicle began flight tests in 1999, technical problems and NASA's decision
not to select Roton for its X-33 project stalled
further development.
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