capsule

A special operations team is pinned down in a valley deep inside contested territory. Ammo is running low, and close air support is nonexistent. Extraction forces are still hours out. The operatives have kept the enemy at bay, but their ability to do so is dwindling with every round they fire. Their stocks of 40mm grenades have long been exhausted; now their rifles will soon run dry too. The sky cracks with a sonic boom, which echoes across the valley, and fighting pauses for a split second as fighters on both sides look up. Soon after, the shooting resumes, but out of the blinding sun comes a capsule stuffed with ammunition hanging on a parachute and flying right toward the special operations team.

Help has arrived… From orbit.

The above is a scene that sounds like it’s ripped right out of a Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare video game, but one company is working to make it a reality.

California-based space startup Inversion has unveiled its design for a fully reusable, lifting-body spacecraft named Arc. The spacecraft is intended to deliver critical cargo from space to any point on Earth within an hour, landing on water, snow or soil with a precision of around 50 feet, the company says. The concept, aimed squarely at the defense sector, reflects longstanding U.S. military interest in using space-based systems to rapidly move cargo around the globe to meet commanders’ urgent needs.

The mission concept involves the Arc spacecraft being launched into low Earth orbit atop a rocket. Arc then remains in orbit until its cargo is required to be delivered. At that point, the spacecraft uses a deorbit engine to re-enter the atmosphere, moving at very high speed. Arc uses small thrusters and large trailing-edge maneuvering flaps to adjust its position and speed during its fiery reentry, through the atmosphere, until it approaches the ‘drop zone.’

Once it has reached a lower altitude, Arc slows down and lands using its actively controlled parachute system. This is also able to fine-tune the spacecraft’s path back to Earth. The parachute ensures a soft landing, meaning that Arc can then be reused. The entire mission is uncrewed, with the Arc being commanded by autonomous control systems.

Interestingly, Inversion’s plan to field a spacecraft that’s able to put a cargo at any place on Earth within an hour has parallels with an ambition laid out by U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), back in 2020. TRANSCOM provides transportation services and solutions to all branches of the armed forces, as well as various other defense and governmental organizations.

Speaking back then, U.S. Army Gen. Stephen R. Lyons, TRANSCOM’s commander, said: “Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour. Think about that speed associated with the movement of transportation of cargo… There is a lot of potential here…”

At that point, TRANSCOM had begun a partnership with both SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc) to pursue space-based rapid delivery concepts. SpaceX has since been working with the Air Force and Space Force on the ‘Rocket Cargo’ program, which seeks to quickly deliver cargo anywhere on Earth that can support a vertical landing.

It should be noted, however, that the sizes of payloads that Arc will be able to deliver are much smaller than those outlined by Lyons. The spacecraft itself will measure only around eight feet by four feet.

The C-17 has a maximum payload of around 82 tons, although normal payloads are around 60 tons or less. Arc is reportedly planned to have a cargo of just 500 pounds. Still, small cargoes often require very big logistics. As we have noted in a prior piece:

“Even the Navy has said in the past that when ships encounter problems as a result of logistics-related issues that leave them partially mission capable or non-mission capable, 90 percent of the time this can be resolved by the delivery of a component weighing 50 pounds or less.“

Nevertheless, Inversion clearly sees a niche for the very high-speed delivery of what it describes as “mission-enabling cargo.”

Inversion doesn’t provide any specific examples of the kinds of cargoes that might be delivered by Arc, beyond “equipment, food, or other mission cargo.” Conceivably, key cargo could comprise time-sensitive equipment and ammunition needed at forward operating locations. Since these spacecraft would be pre-launched, they would likely be filled with a range of generic cargoes that are generally time-sensitive. Then, they would be deorbited on demand.

Today, other small autonomous resupply systems have been used in combat, like the paragliding Snow Goose, and others are in development or limited use now. But these systems fly exclusively within the atmosphere and are much slower, more vulnerable, and require regional basing or an aerial delivery platform to launch them from relatively nearby.

Bearing in mind the considerable cost of a space launch, these cargoes would presumably only be delivered in the most critical scenarios, the kinds where only a high-cost rapid transport would suffice.

Such a capability would appear to have particular relevance in the context of future contingencies in the Indo-Pacific theater. With a growing expectation that this region will see a future high-end conflict involving the U.S. military, the ability to call upon space-based systems, like Arc, to quickly bring critical supplies to the area could be of high value — provided, once again, that the technology can be mastered.

Since Arc is reusable, that would go some way to making it more cost-efficient, when the vehicle can be recovered. Inversion also proposes putting several Arc vehicles into orbit at the same time (it’s unclear if these would be transported by the same or different rockets). The result has been described as something like a series of “constellations” with a variety of contingency cargoes that could be tailored to different customers and operational theaters.

Each Arc vehicle is reportedly able to remain in orbit for up to five years.

Another advantage compared to other space-based cargo-delivery concepts is the fact that Arc uses a parachute landing system.

Arc can, in theory, deliver cargo to any place on the planet, including remote regions, disaster zones, or hard-to-access theaters of war. Other orbital delivery concepts, such as suborbital VTOL rockets, have needed at least some kind of infrastructure to support the cargo-recovery part of the mission, but Arc should do away with that requirement, at least for small cargoes.

Last month, Inversion conducted precision drop-testing to prove the actively controlled parachute system that ensures that Arc will be able to put its cargoes where they are needed.

The company now says it wants to conduct a first mission with Arc as early as next year, which seems highly ambitious.

On the other hand, the startup does have some valuable experience from its Ray spacecraft, Inversion’s first, which was launched in January of this year as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission. This test mission helped prove technologies, including solar panels, propulsion, and separation systems, which will be incorporated into Arc.

For the time being, Inversion is focused solely on Arc’s military potential, although there would clearly be specific commercial applications as well. There is also the question of the possibility of adapting Arc as a reusable and recoverable satellite or even orbital supply vehicle. Meanwhile, the company has spoken confidently of producing hundreds of examples of the spacecraft every year.

Before that happens, and presuming military customers are forthcoming, Inversion will need to prove that its concept of space-based cargo deliveries can be cost-effective. There will also be various other regulatory issues to overcome, bearing in mind that this is an altogether new kind of transportation system.

Despite multiple dead ends and abortive programs, the idea of using some kind of space-based solution for rapid transport across the globe is one that won’t go away. Potentially, with its much smaller cargo loads, reusable spacecraft, and parachute-landing system, Inversion’s de-orbit on-demand cargo concept could be the one that finally breaks the mold.

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It costs from £30 a night, is right in the heart of London, but there’s a catch – you can only just about sit up in bed

The largest “capsule” hotel in the world has opened – just not for claustrophobics.

Slap bang in the heart of London, it is packed with nearly 1,000 pods. While it boasts about being the biggest of its kind anywhere, its rates are anything but – a snip at just £30 upwards. Compare that to the swanky Ritz Hotel, a short walk away, where rooms can set you back £1,100.

The Mirror spent the night to find out just what it is like sleeping in what, as it turned out, felt little bigger than an over-sized box – with absolutely no daylight.

Capsules hotels are nothing new: the first opened in Japan in 1979 in the city of Osaka. Other pint-sized versions have opened in the UK, but none on this scale.

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The Zedwell Capsule Hotel is just moments from London’s bustling Piccadilly Circus – if you can find it. Arriving in the early evening, there was no obvious sign of the entrance. Nearby is Zedwell’s sister hotel – with bigger rooms – but it was soon clear I wasn’t the only one willing to give the capsule experience a go, with the concierge pointing a small group of all us in the right dirtection. And not backpackers willing to slum it – all were business folk.

Having eventually found the small door beneath some scaffolding and checked-in, it was up to my capsule.

If staying in a cramped capsule wasn’t off putting enough, the designers have decided to paint virtually everything else dark grey. Even the windows outside the lift were painted grey, and didn’t open. It added to the dystopian feel – like something out of movie Bladerunner.

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Guests sleep in dormitories – it reminded me of a storage unit corridor – ranging in size from eight to 100 capsules, with female only options available. The capsules are stacked two high. Mine was up a few stairs, with four others, all facing each other. No doors here. Instead, getting in means rolling up an office cabinet-like shutter.

Inside there is a mattress…and not much space for anything else. Each capsule is 220cm long, just 100cm wide, and a disconcertingly low 100cm in height – just enough to sit up in. That said, it had a socket, light, mirror, and an overhead fan – described as a “smart climate control” system but which appeared to be a simple fan that failed to keep things cool.

No en-suite facilities here: you wander down the corridor to a shared toilet and showers, which are good and plentiful. I made the schoolboy error of not taking my room card – twice – which proved a tad awkward.

And so to bed. I’ve never had a big issue with small spaces but, pulling the shutter down, and switching off the light, brought on the collywobbles. If you are in anyway claustrophobic, think twice.

I have to confess opening the shutter a little to see some corridor light, even if that did mean facing my neighbour’s entrance, right there. Talking of neighbours, who you are staying cheek by jowl with, there is real risk you find out knowing a little too much about their sleeping habits, just a few centimetres away. The capsules are said to have “noise reduction” and, while I could hear whoever was next door moving around, it was worked well in the main.

They also boast Hypnos mattresses and Egyptian cotton bedding, which more than did the job, and helped make for a good night’s sleep. But waking up in the morning, in pitch darkness despite the time, I was overcome with the urge to break out of my box and see the daylight. Emerging into the sunshine made me appreciate it a whole lot more.

Judging by how busy it was, the super-sized capsule concept may well capture the imagination. And for the price, it is a bargain. But staying in what must surely be among the smallest hotel rooms in Britain definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste.

Felix Baumgartner lived to leap, becoming the first person to fall faster than the speed of sound during a 24-mile skydiving adventure through the stratosphere in 2012.

On Thursday, the Austrian daredevil died at age 56 while engaged in a far less intense activity, crashing into the side of a hotel swimming pool while paragliding in Porto Sant Elpidio, a town on central Italy’s eastern coast.

According to Sky Austria, he became ill before the crash. A hotel employee was hospitalized after sustaining injuries in the accident, the report stated.

“Our community is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight,” Porto Sant Elpidio mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella said on Facebook.

Felix Baumgartner jumps out of the capsule during Red Bull Stratos on October 14, 2012.

(Red Bull Stratos/Red Bull via AP Images)

The man known as “Fearless Felix” made history 13 years ago when he parachuted down to a landing near Roswell, N.M., after being lifted 24 miles above Earth into the stratosphere in a capsule carried by a helium balloon. He set a record for fastest free fall, descending 127,852 feet at 843.6 mph and becoming the first human to break the sound barrier without the assistance of a vehicle.

As he exited his capsule and jumped into air that was 70 degrees below zero, Baumgartner gave a thumbs-up to onlookers watching a live stream online. He activated his parachute as he neared the ground.

“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think of about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive,” he said after landing safely.

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are.”

Baumgartner’s altitude record stood for two years until Google executive Alan Eustace set new marks for the highest free-fall jump and greatest free-fall distance.

A former Austrian military parachutist, Baumgartner made numerous jumps from airplanes, skyscrapers and bridges. He also leaped from famed landmarks, including the Christ the Redeemer statue at the summit of Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He once flew across the English Channel in a carbon fiber wing after being dropped from a plane. The daredevil also performed as a helicopter stunt pilot in shows across Europe.

Baumgartner died while engaged in a more prosaic activity. Paragliders are lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched aircraft primarily used for recreation. The pilot sits suspended below a fabric wing.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a representative for Baumgartner’s longtime sponsor Red Bull said, “We are shocked and overwhelmed with sadness to hear the devastating news of our longtime friend Felix Baumgartner.

“Felix was ‘born to fly’ and was determined to push the limits. He was also smart, professional, thorough and meticulous, never leaving anything to chance. He was generous, giving much of his time to help and inspiring so many people.

“We remember Felix as a lovely person, devoted to his family and friends, to whom we send our heartfelt sympathy. Felix, you will be deeply missed.”

In an interview with Red Bull years ago, Baumgartner addressed his meticulous preparation before taking flight.

“We had a very long list of ‘what ifs,’ in other words eventualities that could happen and how we would deal with them in an emergency,” he said. “The list kept getting longer and longer. I was only afraid of the things that were not on the list, the things we had not thought of. To this day, I abort missions if the conditions are not right.”

Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary and the United States returned to Earth early Tuesday after the 20-day SpaceX Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. They parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.