Xodiac-B LOX-RP2 Suborbital VTVL Rocket

Astrobotic proposes to design and build a fully reusable vertical-takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket testbed to demonstrate and test novel liquid rocket engine designs, including rotating detonation rocket engines (RDRE). This VTVL rocket testbed, designated "Xodiac-B," will draw on Astrobotic's reusable rocket heritage of over 600 successful VTVL rocket flights across five different VTVL vehicles, including 150+ flights on Astrobotic's current Xodiac rocket. Xodiac-B will leverage the existing Xodiac design but modify the propulsion system to optimize the vehicle for kerosene-based fuels. Xodiac-B will be designed to a reference 1,000-lbf RDRE, which will establish baseline interfaces and procedures for testing new rocket engine designs. By modifying an existing vehicle platform to perform this innovative new testing capability, Astrobotic will reduced non-recurrent engineering costs and delays and expedite the vehicle development and testing schedules. In Phase I, Astrobotic will design the Xodiac-B system architecture, develop a test plan for Phase II testing, and produce an interface control document and bill of materials to expedite procurement and integration of the vehicle in Phase II. Astrobotic will also select its top two candidates for test sites and justify its selections. It will also assess the budget and schedule feasibility of conducting VTVL hover testing of an RDRE in Phase II. In addition to design and test planning, Astrobotic will develop a conceptual design of a LOX-kerosene variant of its larger suborbital Xogdor variable that draws directly from the design, planning, and studies performed in the Xodiac-B Phase I and Phase II efforts. This Xogdor Block 2B vehicle would be developed under a potential Phase III contract and would be capable of testing larger-thrust-class RDREs at high altitudes, including suborbital space.