If the last decade marked a revolution in sending mass to space, the next decade will center on bringing mass back to Earth.
Major players in the industry, including SpaceX, Varda, Blue Origin, Stoke, Outpost, Inversion Space, and Sierra Space, view reentry as a critical next advancement in space tech capability.
The DoD agrees.
What was once a far-out idea, space-based cargo delivery is now seen as a viable reality for the DoD over the next few years. The capability could allow the Pentagon to transport cargo to any location on Earth in under two hours.
In 2024, the DoD emphasized funding reentry and point-to-point transportation, awarding four sizable reentry contracts in the past four months. There are two buckets of cargo delivery capabilities: Orbital cargo drop delivery and point-to-point.
Orbital cargo drop: A reentry vehicle is filled with supplies, staged in orbit for months or years, and can be called down on a moment’s notice. Recent contracts include:
- Outpost: $33.2M Air Force STRATFI in August.
- Inversion Space: $71M ARFL/SpaceWERX STRATFI in September.
- Sierra Space: $980,000 AFRL in October.
- Varda: $60M Air Force STRATFI in March 2023.
Point-to-point: Space is the ultimate Autobahn. In the absence of atmospheric drag, a rocket traveling along a suborbital trajectory can reach 25,000+ km per hour. Launch companies can take advantage of this cheat code to transport cargo anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes.
- Stoke Space: $4.5M DIU award in August.
- SpaceX: $149M AFRL Rocket Cargo contract in January 2022.
Dial 1-800-air-drop: Cargo drop and point-to-point are video game-like capabilities where a platoon leader in the field can order resources—say, new batteries or satcom terminals—to be delivered from space within 60 to 90 minutes. Manna from heaven.
For the film lovers out there: think Hunger Games sponsored items parachuting into the arena, dropping into Katniss’s arms. For gamers (or parents of gamers): think Fortnite supply drops. For Amazon addicts: think drones delivering packages an hour after purchase.
Use Cases
Scheduled C-17 cargo shipments work just fine for most shipment DoD needs. However, if time is of the essence, if the delivery area is small, or if there is concern about freedom of navigation, space cargo transport could offer a faster, more precise, and safer alternative. Use cases include:
- Delivery in heavily contested or anti-access aerial denial zones that could put C-17 pilots at risk
- Delivery in areas with natural logistical issues like islands, mountains, ice, or the ocean
- Search and rescue supply drops for warfighters or humanitarian relief
- Immediate delivery needs
Cargo transport could include medical supplies, Meals Ready-to-Eat packages, F-135 engines, radios, buoys, inflatable boats, batteries, ammunition, or satcom terminals.
“If it’s a contested environment, you’re not going to want to put more military or humanitarian aid people in danger,” Jamie Landers, the president of Outpost—a startup developing return vehicles—told Payload.
A particular concern for the Pentagon is restricted waterways, such as the South China Sea.
“A significant amount of conversation coming from the Space Force and Navy is about anti-access and aerial denial concerns in the South China Sea and other waterways, where we’ve experienced a freedom of navigation in the past, but we may no longer have that luxury at some point in time in the future,” Sierra Space’s Senior VP of Defense Erik Daehler told Payload.
+ Strike capability: Point-to-point rockets and spacecraft reentry also have a more controversial and nefarious possible use case: weapon delivery. North Korea’s intercontinental missiles have the potential to reach the US in a few hours. In 2021, China deployed a hypersonic glider vehicle to LEO before reentering Earth’s atmosphere and hitting a target in a weapons test that was widely criticized.
While the DoD’s interest is firmly cargo delivery, it is an aspect to bear in mind for the broader capability.
Rocket Cargo
Rocket Cargo program: The primary government funding effort for point-to-point logistics is the Air Force’s Rocket Cargo program.
The program aims to leverage commercial launch to deliver 100 tons of cargo (similar to the payload capacity of a C-17) anywhere in under 90 minutes. In 2022, the program signed a contract with SpaceX to test Starship point-to-point capability. The demo flight is slated for 2026. The DoD has also signed CRADA Rocket Cargo agreements with Rocket Lab, Blue Origin, Outpost, and Sierra Space.
To make transporting cargo as seamless as possible, the Air Force has also been working with industry to create space-tolerant standardized multimodal shipping containers. Yes, shipping containers in space.
This article will discuss the seven companies building reentry tech for the DoD and the varying approaches to the capability.
Inversion Space
In September, the AFRL and SpaceWERX awarded Inversion Space a $71M STRATFI contract to help develop the company’s Arc reentry vehicle, which is an orbital spacecraft designed to deorbit and deliver cargo at a 6-meter accuracy in under 60 minutes.
“This contract will allow us to develop and demonstrate the technologies that make it possible to deliver cargo anywhere on Earth in minutes, from remote islands to uninhabitable mountains to the middle of the ocean,” said Justin Fiaschetti, CEO of Inversion.
Arc is reusable and designed to last five years in orbit. The maiden flight is slated for 2026.
Before Arc, Inversion will launch Ray, a smaller (20 inches in diameter) test spacecraft. Inversion Space received an FAA reentry license for its first Ray vehicle mission in October. The vehicle is expected to launch later this month on Transporter-12.
- Inversion, Varda, and SpaceX are the only companies with active reentry licenses.
- That number is set to rise significantly over the next few years as the DoD and NASA prioritize the capability and with other reentry vehicles coming online.
Outpost
In August, Outpost won a $33.2M Air Force STRATFI contract for four reentry missions with its Ferryall spacecraft.
Like Inversion, the company is developing two reentry vehicles: the Ferryall and the larger Carryall. Both spacecraft feature deployable carbon fiber fabric heat shields and utilize a robotically-controlled paraglider wing to land within a five-meter target.
- The Ferryall is designed to transport up to 100 kg back to Earth, and it fits on a SpaceX rideshare plate.
- The Carryall is designed to transport up to 10 tons of cargo back to Earth and is the size of a 20-ft shipping container. Outpost can store the vehicle in orbit for up to 5 years.
Sierra Space
In October, Sierra Space won a $980,000 AFRL contract for its Ghost reentry spacecraft. The vehicles can be stowed in orbit or launched as a responsive mission.
Ghost 101: The reentry system can deliver critical equipment to any location on Earth within 90 minutes or less.
- The Ghost spacecraft can host 150 kg of cargo and is designed to scale up to 5 to 10 metric tons.
- The vehicle uses soft goods and high-temperature materials for its umbrella reentry technology.
Varda
In March, Varda won a $60M Air Force STRATFI contract to use its reentry capsule as a hypersonic testbed. Varda is building mini orbital factories to manufacture products in zero-g. The company successfully demonstrated its reentry tech in February when it brought back delicate crystals back from orbit aboard its 120-kg Winnebago capsule.
The company is planning two more Winnebago reentry missions next year. Each mission costs roughly $12M, with the company aiming to reduce costs to less than $2.5M by the tenth mission.
Stoke
Stoke Space won a $4.5M DIU point-to-point award in August. Stoke has set its sights on building a fully reusable rocket. The second stage resembles a traditional reentry capsule with a large circular heat shield on its rump. For propulsion, the rocket employs 30 small thrusters along the perimeter of the heat shield.
The company is still a few years from its first launch, but if they’re successful in tackling the second-stage reusability problem, the DoD could use the rocket to launch and deliver cargo anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice.
“Our unique reusable upper-stage technology represents a significant leap forward in improving launch costs and availability through a flexible and responsive platform,” said Stoke’s CEO Andy Lapsa. “It also presents new capabilities, such as moving critical payloads through space or returning them to Earth.”
Blue Origin
Blue Origin’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket will debut in the next few months. The rocket can transport 45T to LEO with a first-stage reusable configuration. Blue Origin is also exploring the development of a reusable second-stage vehicle, which would have reentry and precision landing capability.
The company signed a CRADA with the DoD for the Rocket Cargo program in 2021 to explore point-to-point delivery.
SpaceX
SpaceX is the furthest along in developing point-to-point transport with its Starship rocket. The rocket is designed to be fully reusable and can land within centimeter accuracy. SpaceX has made progress in second-stage reusability, achieving precision water landings on back-to-back flights.
For terrestrial landings, SpaceX will catch the second stage Starship back at the launch pad with “chopstick arms,” but for lunar and Mars missions, Starship will require landing legs. For point-to-point missions those landing legs could also be used to land and deliver cargo on a flat surface on Earth.
The company has a contract worth over $149M to land 30 metric tons of government cargo. The demo is slated to take place by 2026.
