Drone Assisted Spaceflight

Powerful drones can lift and accelerate a space rocket before launch, reducing fuel requirements for the rocket, making space flight cheaper, safer and cleaner. We have used reconfigured Rammaxx LED rockets to prove the concept on a small scale.

Rammaxx’s concept of an electric rapid ascent drone (RAD) was born out of our work with small electric rapid ascent rockets for electronic fireworks. It aims to make space flight much easier by replacing most of the first stage of a conventional ground to space rocket (GSR).

Rocket engines have very low efficiency at slow speeds. This means that a large proportion of the total on-board rocket fuel is burned at and shortly after lift-off, just to get off the ground.

The massive size of the first rocket stage is a main reason for the expense, danger and environmental unfriendliness of space flight.

Rammaxx’s RAD concept is a powerful octocopter designed for vertical flight via a streamlined hull and guidance fins. It is projected to be able to accelerate with a rocket to around ~ 300mph / 500kph up to an altitude of ~ 15,000ft / 5,000m.

This flight performance enables the design of air to space rockets (ASR) that are much smaller than conventional ground to space rockets (GSR). The first stage can almost be completely eliminated, resulting in cheaper, safer and cleaner space flight.

The air to space rocket is then launched and continues upwards. The RAD descends back to the landing pad, recharges and is then ready for another mission.

We envision one RAD carrying one or two small rockets for small payloads, e.g. micro satellites, and a swarm of RADs working together to carry a rocket designed for larger payloads.

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Specifications and Capabilities of RAD Concept for Space Flight

  • Number of motors/rotors: 8; 4 pairs of coaxial electric motors with propellers

  • Upper rotor diameter: 7 meters

  • Lower rotor diameter: 5 meters

  • Power: 300 hp per motor, 2,400 hp per rapid ascent drone (RAD)

  • Payload: 13,000 lbs / 6,000 kg per RAD

  • Empty weight with battery: 7,000 lbs / 3000 kg

  • Max take off weight: 20,000 lbs / 9,000kg

  • Max vertical speed with payload: 300mph / 500kph

  • Max altitude with payload: 15,000ft / 5,000m

  • Flight time with payload: 4 minutes

  • Flight time to rocket launch at 15,000 ft / 5,000 meters: ~ 90 seconds


Proof of Concept

Small scale proof of concept experiments using re-configured Rammaxx 3oz / 100gram electric lightshow RADs have worked very well.

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