New Mode of Transportation to Revolutionize Military Logistics
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The U.S. Transportation Command, which is responsible for moving military personnel and equipment around the world is working with Exploration Architecture, or XArc, and SpaceX to develop “rapid transportation through space” capabilities that will enable to move
cargo anywhere in the world in an hour using commercial spacecraft.
The aim is to use commercial space vehicles, including SpaceX’s Starship, to deliver payloads anywhere in the world. Starship can carry loads of 220,000 pounds.
“Our role is to understand the ground support infrastructure required to make it happen,” XArc CEO Sam Ximenes said. “What are the ground facilities and cargo standardizations so that it is seamlessly integrated into the (military’s) current logistics system.”
Three types of rocket landing areas will be examined: rugged sites with no infrastructure, remote sites with limited support and mature sites that have established capabilities.
The companies could begin testing ground-support concepts as early as 2021.
In addition to SpaceX’s Starship, XArc’s study is looking at commercial space vehicles under development, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Horizon and Virgin Galactic’s Stratolaunch.
Navy Vice Adm. Dee Mewbourne, deputy commander of U.S. Transportation Command said rockets traveling through space could speed cargo delivery by 10 times. “It’s time to learn how our current strategies to project and sustain forces can evolve with a new mode of transportation,” he said.
In addition to speed, commercial space lift “eliminates en-route stops or air refueling,” officials said in a statement. “This capability has the potential to be one of the greatest revolutions in transportation since the airplane.”
The no-cost agreement allows U.S. Transportation Command and the companies to exchange research and technology as they study the use of commercial space launches to move cargo around the globe. What the contractors glean from the project could help them secure future space-cargo contracts, according to lmtonline.com.
