Imagine Amazon drone delivery on a worldwide scale. That’s the vision of Inversion Space, which wants to use its recently revealed Arc spacecraft to deliver cargo anywhere in the world within an hour, according to Ars Technica. Naturally, its first intended customer is the military, but Inversion eventually hopes to apply its technology to the commercial sector as well, according to a press release.
The key to Arc’s rapid delivery is to already be in orbit when the call comes in. Inversion foresees a constellation of Arc satellites, rather like Starlink. Instead of delivering internet service, each spacecraft will already have the desired cargo on board. The closest one to the desired location will detach from its solar array and begin its descent through the atmosphere. Inversion says that Arc has a 621-mile cross-range capability, meaning that’s how far it can fly away from its orbital trajectory before landing. The four-foot by eight-foot spacecraft is a lifting body design like the Dream Chaser, providing both lift and maneuvering capability during descent.
For its final approach, Arc deploys a parachute to reduce its speed further and enable precise maneuvering to its destination. While Inversion has not yet tested a complete descent from orbit to landing, it has successfully tested the Arc’s automated precision landing capabilities with the parachute. Since Arc uses non-poisonous fuels, people on the ground can approach the spacecraft and retrieve the cargo immediately after landing.
It’s so crazy it might work
Space enthusiast and YouTuber Scott Manley decided to recreate Arc in Kerbal Space Program, a popular spaceflight simulation game. He begins with the spacecraft already in orbit, then successfully flies it through re-entry, hypersonic maneuvering in the upper atmosphere, a subsonic glide, parachute deployment, and a successful precision landing. Since Inversion Space has not yet completed a full test flight, that is probably the best way to visualize how Arc will work, and it works rather well here.
This may seem like a wild idea, but it’s all rooted in existing technology. Each Arc would launch from a conventional rocket long before its cargo is needed, so it could take whatever time it needs to get into position safely. A test vehicle, called Ray, is already in orbit and undergoing long-term testing. The controlled descent is how the Space Shuttle landed, though perhaps a better analogy would be the autonomous Boeing X-37B. The paraglider’s final descent may seem a bit odd, but in the 1960s, NASA seriously considered a similar landing system for the Gemini program, according to the National Air and Space Museum, which has a prototype on display. It could have worked then, but the tight deadlines of the space race forced NASA to use its proven method of parachuting into the ocean instead of developing it further.
Justin Hughes / Jalopnik
Another good reason to already have the spacecraft and cargo in orbit is that, aside from the logistical issues involved with a sudden on-demand rocket launch for a cargo delivery, it would also look just like an intercontinental ballistic missile launch to other countries watching. At best, an interceptor missile would take it out, destroying the cargo. At worst, they’d launch a retaliatory strike. Nobody wants to start World War III over a case of mistaken identity.
