Knight Aerospace is working with “a rocket manufacturer” to design its future product, said Rhodes, who declined to say whether that company is working with SpaceX. The 160-foot-tall Starship spacecraft, which sits upon the Super Heavy booster, is designed toĬarry more than 100 tons of cargo to destinations like the moon, according to its website. SpaceX has been developing the nearly 400-foot-tall, reusable Starship rocket system at its launch site in Boca Chica, near Brownsville. With Elon Musk’s SpaceX to research how reusable rocket systems can be used for cargo missions. Last year, the Air Force Research Laboratory entered into a Initiated in mid-2021 with the Space Force as the lead service, the Rocket Cargo program is focused onĭetermining the viability and utility of using large commercial rockets Space Force, under the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program, seek private companies to help the Defense Department develop rocket systems that can deliver tons of cargo significantly faster than planes can. The new business venture comes as the U.S. On : San Antonio-built ‘Lamborghini of medical suites’ aims to take airborne medical care to a new levelĪwarded $3.75 million in Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, contractsīy the Air Force Research Laboratory to build “low-cost, intermodal cargo containers for point-to-point rocket transport” as part of an initiative called the INTermodel Rocket CONtainer, or INTRCON.
“Our specialty is developing a good structure that’s air worthy, so it doesn’t matter what the structure is.” “It’s a new way of transportation that needs to be figured out,” Rhodes said about using rockets to move cargo between points on Earth and beyond. The company, whose headquarters are at Port San Antonio on the Southwest Side, aims to design containers for the future that the Defense Department envisions using on rockets to deliver military and medical supplies anywhere in the world at unprecedented speeds. San Antonio-based Knight Aerospace’s turnkey container, known as theĪeromedical Bio-Containment Module, has brought the company international attention and lifted its industry profile.Īnd now it stands to reach for new heights - and speeds - under a recent federal government contract that could put its products on rockets and perhaps into space. Stood inside a 40-foot-long container outfitted with medical equipment and designed to plug into Royal Canadian Air Force cargo planes, rapidly converting them into flying emergency rooms. SpaceX entered into a five-year, $102 million contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to explore how reusable rocket systems can be used to transport cargo. SpaceX ignites 31 out of 33 raptor engines during a Starship booster static test in February at the company’s launch pad near Boca Chica Beach. William Luther, Staff / Staff Show More Show Less 7 of7 William Luther, Staff / Staff Show More Show Less 6 of7Ī model of a Knight Aerospace self-contained medical unit sits inside a mock-up of a C-130 military cargo plane at the company’s headquarters at Port San Antonio. Knight Aerospace CEO Bianca Rhodes motions toward a display showcasing some of the company’s products.
The Rocket Cargo Vanguard project seeks to determine the viability and utility of using large commercial rockets for Department of Defense global logistics. Miguel Roberts, MBI / Associated Press Show More Show Less 4 of7 William Luther, Staff / Staff Show More Show Less 3 of7 Workers prepare a Knight Aerospace-built biomedical containment module for display at the company’s headquarters at Port San Antonio. William Luther, Staff / Staff Show More Show Less 2 of7 The company, known for it’s self-contained modules that can be installed in military and commercial cargo planes, is working to develop similar capabilities for point-to-point rockets. Knight Aerospace CEO Bianca Rhodes stands inside one of the company’s biomedical containment modules at its headquarters Port San Antonio.
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