Space flights could blast off from Abu Dhabi before 2030 under plan

Radian One spaceplane will be able to take-off horizontally and dock with space stations, with ground tests already under way in the capital

A Radian One spaceplane model at the Al Lisaili RC Flying Field in Dubai. Photo: Radian Space

Ambitious plans to launch space flights from Abu Dhabi before the end of the decade are gathering pace, with testing under way in the capital.

Radian Aerospace, a Seattle-based company, is developing a horizontal take-off and landing, single-stage, fully reusable spaceplane called Radian One. A prototype is being tested at a small airfield in Abu Dhabi.

The spaceplane, which can carry passengers and cargo, is designed to fly to low-Earth orbit, with the company hoping to carry out the first sub-orbital test flight in 2028. If everything goes according to plan, the first orbital flight will take place the following year, and commercial operations will take place soon after.

A model of the plane is on display at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, which concludes on Thursday.

Preparing for lift-off

Livingston L Holder, a former military astronaut and chief technology officer at Radian Aerospace, told The National the company wants to operate from Abu Dhabi, where it is keen on having a number of airports from which flights can take off.

“We were able to build and flight test our vehicle here faster and it was more economical, and there was a skill set that worked well for us also,” he said of the UAE capital.

“The first airfield we operated out of was a small airfield and it allowed us to test rather frequently, so we could, day after day, taxi the vehicle, make adjustments, come back and taxi again. That flexibility was quite advantageous for us and we were able to build it less expensively and test at a higher cadence.”

Radian One is different from the sub-orbital VSS-Unity spaceplanes that were launched by Virgin Galactic, with a business model focused more on space tourism and a craft that can also take off from a runway instead of a vertical pad used for traditional rockets.

But Virgin Galactic's spaceplane launched with the help of a carrier rocket that would take the craft to a high enough altitude, where it would be released and then climb on its own to the edge of space.

Radian One would involve a runway take-off with the help of a rocket-powered rail sledge with traditional railway elements and rocket engines installed, but the spaceplane would then accelerate on its own into space.

It is designed to fly at an altitude of more than 400km and dock with the International Space Station or other private outposts that companies such as Blue Origin and Axiom Space are developing. It can transport up to 2,270kg of cargo to orbit and bring back 4,540kg.

Intensive testing

“There’s going to be a long test series,” said Mr Holder. "We have a sequence of things we do, including what’s called computational fluid dynamics, and that's the computer analysing how we're flying through the atmosphere. Then to validate that, we do some wind tunnel testing, so that gives us good linkage between our analytical data and a physical model.”

The company will also test large-scale models that run at higher speeds using longer runways, followed by flight tests.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have previously explored opportunities to launch spacecraft from the UAE but nothing materialised.

One reason could have been because of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which are US rules that stop American companies from sharing certain space and defense technologies with other countries without government approval.

However, Mr. Holder explained that, for now, only airplane-related technology is being tested in Abu Dhabi, and they can bring in a US team to handle sensitive technologies covered by ITAR once they start commercial flights.

“To do business outside the US with restricted technologies, you need a government-approved Technology Assistance Agreement (TAA),” he said. “This allows you to share the information, but only with specific parties approved by the government. For sensitive parts like engines, we may need a US team here, but most of the other systems, like those used for moving cargo or satellites, are likely to be approved for sharing.”

Anna Hazlett, founder of AzurX, a UAE-based private advisory and investment firm specialising in the space sector, told The National she has seen a growing number of companies setting up operations in the country.

Her company has teamed up with DSMC International, a firm specialising in the defence sector, to help Radian Space set up operations.

"It's incredible to see a company which is headquartered in the US to see the UAE as an international market and that can really help them be part of this private space ecosystem here," she said.

"And we already see that through the fact that they started to develop systems, test them and their capabilities in the country. It's just a really good example of the international space community looking at the UAE as a place to set up and expand their operations and do business."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is also hoping to set up flights that are launched to the edge of space. It will soon be hosting a test flight of a stratospheric balloon, which European company Halo Space is developing for space tourism. Oman is planning to develop a spaceport, which would be capable of hosting vertical launches.