Anduril, Blue Origin to study how to transport cargo from orbit to earth for the Pentagon

Blue Origin and Anduril have secured study contracts from the U.S. Air Force under the Rocket Cargo program, aimed at exploring technologies to transport military cargo globally via rockets. Blue Origin received $1.37 million, and Anduril $1 million, under the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics (REGAL) initiative. These contracts represent initial steps toward potentially transforming Pentagon logistics by enabling rapid, orbital-based cargo delivery, with the Air Force seeking to procure such capabilities through service-type contracts akin to commercial airline agreements. Blue Origin’s contract focuses on analyzing how its technology could support point-to-point material transportation, leveraging its facilities in Merritt Island, Florida. Anduril’s contract involves studying the development of a reentry container capable of carrying 5 to 10 tons of payload between Earth and orbit, emphasizing the need for a thermal protection system and compatibility across multiple platforms. Reentry technology is challenging due to the extreme conditions of atmospheric reentry, and few vendors