Reditus Space expects to launch its ENOS 'reusable' satellite later this year. (Artist's image: Reditus Space)
WASHINGTON — Atlanta-bases startup Reditus Space today announced it has completed construction of its reusable re-entry vehicle for microgravity research, which also is being developed for Defense Department use as a hypersonics test bed — and, potentially, target vehicle.
Stef Crum, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told Breaking Defense that the spacecraft, called ENOS, can carry payloads for military testers wanting to evaluate how a specific system or technology functions in a hypersonic environment — or instead serve as a Mach 25+ target vehicle for interceptors both above and within the atmosphere.
The spacecraft is “designed to be launched and operate on-orbit like a satellite, leveraging the existing, and increasingly expanding launch-infrastructure. ENOS is capable of maintaining operations on-orbit, for days, months or years, providing operators with maximum mission flexibility. Then, ENOS can initiate its own reentry, and be recovered under parachute,” the Reditus announcement explained.
Crum said that Reditus currently is in the thick of “multiple engagements with different [DoD] entities.”
