Radian Aerospace, aiming for long-term spaceplane development, is prioritizing the creation of a reentry vehicle. This vehicle, the Radian Reusable Reentry Vehicle (R3V), will serve as both a technology demonstrator and a platform for hypersonic testing applications. The Seattle-based company announced its plans on April 29.
The R3V is designed for hypersonics testing or returning payloads from space, simultaneously providing Radian with invaluable flight experience in crucial technologies for its future Radian One spaceplane. Livingston Holder, Radian's chief technology officer, explained in an interview that the company sought effective methods to test Dur-E-Therm, the thermal protection system being developed for Radian One. Recent lab tests were conducted at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. “But, testing in a non-flight environment only gets you so far, so we were crafting how to test it in a more relevant environment,” Holder stated. This need led to the development of the R3V.
Standing just under two meters tall, the R3V is envisioned to launch on a small or medium-class launch vehicle, following a suborbital trajectory for reentry testing. The vehicle's design allows for recovery and reuse. “That would actually go a long way toward helping the hypersonics community bring down the cost for them flying technology development systems, as well as maturing our own technologies,” Holder said. “So, it ended up solving a series of independent needs.”
Radian views R3V as a dual-purpose asset: testing technology for Radian One and generating early revenue by offering its services to customers interested in hypersonics testing. Holder confirmed expressions of interest from both government and commercial entities. “We think that the faster we’re able to field this, the more confidence people will have in signing up,” he noted. The company aims for a first flight as early as 2026, a goal Holder acknowledges as ambitious.
The R3V's propulsion system also enables orbital applications. “If somebody wants to fly an experiment that has a longer lifetime in zero-g, we could fly that experiment and bring it back to them relatively quickly,” Holder added. Development of R3V will occur concurrently with Radian One. Last fall, the company initiated tests on a prototype vehicle, PFV01, including flights in Abu Dhabi to assess takeoff and landing handling. A second prototype is underway, incorporating lessons learned from PFV01 and other tests. “Having something that flies sooner generates enthusiasm with the team, and we learn faster that way,” Holder said, emphasizing the parallel development approach. “It just gives us an opportunity to incorporate our learnings into the larger system, which should indeed be a risk reduction activity for that larger system not just from a technology standpoint but also from an integration standpoint.”