– Sierra Space has unveiled a new concept called Ghost for rapid on-demand cargo delivery from low Earth orbit to anywhere on the ground within 90 minutes.
– Ghost involves modular cargo units loaded with pre-determined supplies that are launched into orbit. They can wait up to 5 years before being called down to Earth.
– To deliver cargo, the Ghost platform de-orbits using a motor and survives re-entry under a thermal shield. It then deploys a parafoil/umbrella and steerable rudder to accuracy land within 100m of the target.
– Sierra Space aims to enable time-critical delivery for military, disaster response, and humanitarian missions without needing dedicated launch/landing sites.
– A prototype was developed in 90 days through Sierra Space’s accelerator program. Test drops from helicopters were conducted from altitudes of 2000-4000ft to validate the concept.
– While costs are currently in the tens of millions, Sierra Space aims to reduce this to single digit millions. The system is scalable between 250-750kg payload size.
– Sierra Space sees potential to also return larger objects like segments of the International Space Station using scaled up versions of the Ghost technology.
Source: Space
