Exos Aerospace

Exos Aerospace is based on both technologies and people from Armadillo Aerospace, a company founded by video game developer John Carmack.[1] Armadillo had competed for the Ansari X Prize for commercial human suborbital spaceflight in the early 2000s and later developed a series of suborbital vehicles.[1] In August 2013, Carmack placed Armadillo in "hibernation" following the crash of their STIG-B rocket and began "actively looking for outside investors to restart work on the company’s rockets".[2]

Exos Aerospace was founded in May 2014; former employees of Armadillo Aerospace were a significant part of the founding team. Exos was created to carry on the reusable commercial space craft started by Armadillo Aerospace.[3] Exos even set up their operations in one of Armadillo's former facilities at the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport, in Texas.[3] In 2015, the assets of Armadillo Aerospace were formally sold to Exos Aerospace.

Exos Aerospace is focused on suborbital research rockets with an intent of initially launching micro satellites and eventually progressing to autonomous spaceflight. Exos Aerospace is developing the SARGE family for its suborbital vehicles. All research and development is based at the new manufacturing facility in Greenville, Texas. This is inclusive of rocket design, fabrication, assembly, storage and testing. Engines up to 5,000-lbf nominal thrust can be tested on a static test skid at the hangar complex. The company is a NASA REDDI provider and is targeting to qualify to be a NASA IDIQ provider under the Flight Opportunities program.[1] Due to its re-usability, Exos intends to leverage the reusability of the SARGE rocket in development of its orbital technology program that will be manufacturing their orbital vehicle in a new state of the art facility in the Basilicata region of Italy.

The SARGE (aka SARGE M1), an acronym of Suborbital Autonomous Rocket with GuidancE, is a suborbital rocket based on the STIG-B rocket platform developed as part of Armadillo Aerospace's lunar lander program. The SARGE vehicle employs a LOX-ethanol propulsion module based on the LE23000FC series engines, producing approximately 5500 lbs of thrust.[4] The airframe is a reusable sounding rocket with a 20 inches (51 cm) diameter, and is 36 feet (11 m) tall. Helium pressurant cold gas thrusters provide attitude control for pitch-roll-yaw and pointing capability. Payload must fit inside a 20 inches (51 cm) diameter cylinder, be no more than 36 inches (91 cm) tall (in its standard configuration) and weigh no more than 50 kilograms (110 lb). Exos plans to use this technology as the design basis for a reusable (first stage) launch vehicle capable of carrying 100 kg to low Earth orbit.

The SARGE suborbital sounding rocket is designed to be reusable. As of 27 October 2019, no SARGE rocket had reached its intended suborbital altitude.[5] However, the same rocket was launched four times between 2018 and 2019, so this demonstrates (somewhat) the reusability aspect.

EXOS Aerospace operates from Spaceport America. On 14 February 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration issued Exos Aerospace a Reusable Vehicle Mission Launch License.