Rotary Rocket of Redwood City, CA is developing the Roton™ Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) spacecraft.  The Roton™ will be a piloted commercial "space vehicle" designed to transport up to 7,000 lb of cargo to and from low earth orbit (LEO).  The Roton™ vehicle is piloted by a two person crew and will conduct operations from Rotary's facility in Mojave, CA.

The initial Roton C-9 vehicle (pictured at right) is being built almost entirely of composite material by Scaled Composites (also of Mojave, CA).  The Roton C-9 uses a cluster of 72 proprietary RocketJet™ LOX / kerosene engines spinning at 720 rpm to generate 500,000 lb of thrust.  The propellants are pressurized and fed to the engines using a "large centrifugal slinger -  a rotating pipe with thrust chambers at the tips, where the centrifugal force created thousands of psi pressure from high g-loads" (AW Space Business, June 1999, "Is Rotary Rocket for Real?").  The Roton™ crew and cargo are situated between the composite LOX and kerosene tanks.  After performing its orbital services, the Roton™ will re-enter base first and deploy three helicopter-type blades to autogyro to a soft landing.