Arc: Reusable Orbital Capsule That Could Deliver Military Supplies Anywhere on Earth Within an Hour

From Orbit to the Battlefield in Under an Hour

A special-operations unit is pinned in a valley, ammunition nearly exhausted and extraction hours away. A sonic boom rips the sky and, for a moment, fighting pauses as a parachute-borne capsule packed with munitions drifts down from above. It sounds like a scene from a video game — but California startup Inversion is developing a spacecraft, Arc, that aims to make rapid orbital resupply a real-world capability.

What Arc Is

Arc is a compact, fully reusable lifting-body spacecraft designed to carry roughly 500 pounds of cargo from low Earth orbit (LEO) to any point on Earth within an hour, landing on water, snow or soil with an advertised precision of about 50 feet. The vehicle is roughly 8 ft by 4 ft, uncrewed, and intended to operate autonomously.

How It Works

• Arc is launched into LEO on a conventional rocket and remains on orbit until tasked.
• When a delivery is ordered, Arc fires a deorbit engine and re-enters the atmosphere at high speed.
• Throughout reentry the vehicle uses small reaction thrusters and large trailing-edge maneuvering flaps to steer and manage energy.
• At lower altitude an actively controlled parachute decelerates and guides Arc to a precision, soft touchdown so the vehicle can be recovered and reused.

Operational Rationale and Use Cases

Arc targets time-sensitive, mission-enabling cargo — small but critical items such as ammunition, spare parts, medical supplies or specialized equipment. While Arc cannot match large airlifters (a C-17 carries tons of cargo), many real-world logistics failures are resolved by the delivery of small components. Inversion envisions pre-positioned Arcs in orbit as a kind of rapid-response ‘constellation’ that can be deorbited on demand to support forward units, disaster relief or austere operations.

Context and Competing Concepts

The idea echoes ambitions previously described by U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) and programs like SpaceX’s Rocket Cargo concept, though Arc focuses on much smaller payloads and a parachute-based recovery rather than vertical rocket landings. Compared with atmospheric resupply systems (e.g., paraglider payloads), orbital delivery offers global reach without regional basing — but at a higher launch cost.

Progress, Tests and Timeline

Inversion says it performed precision drop tests of its actively controlled parachute system to validate landing accuracy. The company also points to heritage from its earlier Ray spacecraft, flown on a SpaceX Transporter mission, which helped prove solar arrays, propulsion and separation systems. Inversion has stated ambitions to fly a first Arc mission as early as next year — an aggressive schedule that will depend on successful testing, funding and regulatory approvals.

Challenges

• Cost: Space launches remain expensive; Arc deliveries would likely be reserved for high-value or emergency scenarios unless launch costs fall or reusability drives down per-mission price.
• Regulation and Safety: New operating modes — deorbiting vehicles globally and landing on terrestrial or maritime zones — will require coordination with aviation, maritime and space regulators and careful risk mitigation.
• Operational Security: Using orbital assets for contested or denied environments raises new vulnerability and escalation considerations.

Why It Matters

For theaters such as the Indo-Pacific, where distances are vast and forward basing may be contested, a small rapid resupply capability could offer commanders a novel option for keeping forces supplied when conventional logistics are constrained. If Arc’s technical promises — precision, reusability and rapid response — are realized and economically sustainable, the concept could become a valuable complement to existing air and sea logistics.

Bottom line: Arc is a bold, narrowly focused attempt to turn on-demand orbital resupply from concept to capability. It offers global reach and precision for small, urgent payloads, but its utility will hinge on cost, regulatory clearances, demonstrable reliability and careful operational planning.