Rocketplane Global Inc.

Space News, Aviation Week and the Oklahoma Gazette reported layoffs and funding problems. These publications reported, "Rocketplane Kistler officials failed to meet a funding deadline mandated by a NASA contract to build a reusable rocket ..."

Space News reported in a June 25, 2007 story, "... if RpK [Rocketplane Kistler] misses the new deadline, it would be the fourth time the company has gone back to NASA and requested an extension."

On October 18, 2007, NASA discontinued its agreement with Rocketplane Kistler, and announced that the remaining $175 million commitment to the project would be made available to other companies. On October 19, the company appealed the decision, and asked NASA to reconsider the termination or, alternatively, pay $10 million in costs incurred to date.[3]

In February 2009, Rocketplane vacated its Oklahoma City headquarters building. According to Oklahoma State Representative David Dank, Rocketplane no longer has any presence in the state, but Rocketplane has paid all of its taxes and has no outstanding debts which is remarkable for a company to accomplish this while going bankrupt. Rocketplane filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation in July 2010.[4]

In 2011 Rocketplane Limited's assets were sold in an auction and bought by George French and John Burgener. The assets were rolled into the new company Rocketplane Global LLC, based in De Pere, Wisconsin. Focus moved from passenger flights with the XP spaceplane to satellites with the Pathfinder / XS larger rocketplane. Rocketplane Global significantly updated and revised the Pathfinder plans to submit a bid for DARPA's XS-1 program, but did not win a contract. Rocketplane Global moved its state of incorporation to Delaware in April, 2017, to allow for better financing opportunities [5]

Rocketplane Global Inc. claimed to have one of the most affordable designs to provide reusable launch services for small to medium satellites. With an expected retail price of $20 million per launch, and a 2,000 kg payload to LEO, Rocketplane Global expected to provide launch services at half the then-current retail pricing on launches. Rocketplane Global had agreements to launch over 100 satellites starting in 2021 - 2022 if it could obtain sufficient funding in 2017.[5]

Rocketplane Limited intended to fly space tourism flights using the Rocketplane XP spaceplane it was building. It had announced plans to fly the XP in 2007, but on August 31, 2007 its chief executive officer, Calvin Burgess, said test flights would be delayed until 2009 and commercial flights were pushed back until at least 2010.[6] Rocketplane anticipated ticket prices of US$200,000 for a seat on a suborbital flight, including 4 minutes of weightlessness, with an apogee of over 100 kilometers altitude.

Rocketplane Global's XS design follows on the work done on the XP passenger vehicle and continues using jet engines for take off and flight to altitude. It then loads on LOX and fuel from a tanker airplane, and then fires its rocket engines and flies to 100+ km, where it releases a second stage booster to carry the satellite(s) to orbit. With a totally reusable first stage, and an expendable second stage, the costs are minimized and the system is more reliable than trying to land vertical take off and landing rockets.[7]

The Rocketplane XS bears some similarity to the Black Horse concept.