Reference mission / 300 km LEO
The carrier and orbital vehicle accelerate together until the atmosphere has given all it can. Then their trajectories diverge.
The reusable carrier departs under aircraft power. The orbital vehicle remains passive, monitored and mechanically secured throughout the initial climb.
The carrier advances through its turbine-based operating range and transitions toward a ram-compression mode. Dynamic pressure, inlet stability and thermal load—not a headline Mach number—govern the trajectory.
Atmospheric oxygen remains the oxidizer while the carrier approaches its Mach 5 design point. The orbital vehicle gains downrange momentum without spending its own oxidizer.
The carrier pitches into a measured climb and shuts down air-breathing propulsion as useful mass flow disappears. Vertical velocity approaches zero while most horizontal velocity remains.
Ejectors move the orbital vehicle downward from its cradle. Independent guidance confirms distance, attitude and divergent paths before propulsion is enabled.
The orbital engine accelerates downrange and raises the trajectory. A final burn circularizes the orbit once the vehicle has accumulated the required energy and angular momentum.
The carrier follows its own ballistic descent, manages hypersonic heating and transitions back to aerodynamic flight. Early operations target a downrange runway rather than an energy-intensive return to launch site.
At the top of the zoom, low vertical speed helps separation. Zero total speed would erase the carrier's launch contribution and leave both vehicles falling together.
Earth's gravity points inward and cannot create sideways angular momentum from nothing. The vehicle must arrive with tangential velocity or produce it through propulsion.
Climbing from roughly 30 km toward 50 km can cut dynamic pressure by more than an order of magnitude while preserving most of the carrier's downrange velocity.