HYDERABAD: After completing its first near-stratospheric drop test, space startup AnduraX is preparing for a more challenging demonstration: autonomously steering a vehicle from high altitude to a designated landing point using a parafoil. Planned within the next six to eight months, the test will be a key step towards the company’s proposed reusable spaceplane, ARES, designed to carry out microgravity experiments and return products manufactured in space to Earth.
The upcoming test will build on ADM-01, AnduraX’s first high-altitude demonstration, completed in May. While ADM-01 descended unguided under a parachute, the next vehicle will use onboard controls to steer a parafoil towards a precise landing point, demonstrating a limited version of the autonomous navigation needed for a future return from space.
AnduraX co-founder Sree Supranayi Kanamarlapudi told TNIE that the company is also targeting a small-scale orbital re-entry demonstration in 2028 to validate critical subsystems and mission operations, before attempting its first commercial spaceplane mission around 2030.
ARES is being designed as an autonomous, reusable platform for microgravity experiments and in-space manufacturing, with the ability to return payloads to Earth. The unmanned vehicle is planned to carry up to 120 kg and remain in orbit for up to 90 days.
The company sees the vehicle addressing a key challenge in space-based manufacturing. Microgravity can enable purer pharmaceutical crystals, advanced semiconductors and novel materials, but such products need to be recovered safely and quickly for use on Earth.
“ARES is intended to function as more than a cargo-return vehicle. We are designing it as an autonomous platform where experiments and manufacturing processes can be carried out in space without necessarily requiring human intervention,” Kanamarlapudi said.
The return journey, however, poses the biggest technical challenge. A spaceplane re-entering the atmosphere from orbital speeds could travel at around Mach 25 and would have to navigate autonomously through critical phases, including periods of communication blackout.