Inversion Space looks to 2026 orbital flight for space delivery vehicle Arc

Inversion Space (Los Angeles, U.S.), a California reentry startup, has unveiled its flagship lifting body spacecraft, Arc, intended for “mission-enabling cargo” — that is, it can send and deliver cargo from space to any place on Earth in less than an hour. The vehicle is “made from lightweight metals and heat-resistant composites” according to a DesignBoom article and confirmed by Inversion Space personnel, whom told CW that composite materials are being used within Arc’s thermal protection system (TPS).

Arc builds upon the company’s first spacecraft demonstrator named Ray, which launched as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission in January 2025. “It’s not a space capsule, it’s not a space plane, it is in between — a lifting body reentry vehicle,” Inversion CEO Justin Fiaschetti tells Payload.

Payload reports that Arc can hold and store about 500 pounds of payload in orbit for up to 5 years, it is fully reusable and it is built to withstand speeds over Mach 20 — making it not only useful for defense, medical and other emergency needs, but also as a platform for hypersonic flight testing. The 4-foot-wide, 8-feet-tall spacecraft is “equipped with control flaps, ACS thrusters, a deorbit engine and an autonomously maneuverable parachute,” says Payload. “ It can cover a total reentry range of over 1,000 kilometers and land on a target within 50 feet.” DesignBoom notes that it relies on Inversion Space’s custom-built processing core and is powered by AI and control algorithms.

Inversion’s vision is to deploy constellations of Arcs in-orbit to ensure that allied militaries can access critical cargo at a moment’s notice — even in denied environments. “The long-term vision for the company is that space becomes a new mode of transportation,” Fiaschetti tells Payload. “We’re fully focused on defense right now.”

On Oct. 2, 2025, the team conducted precision drop testing, showcasing that Arc is able to land and ship goods on its own. The company is preparing for the spacecraft’s first orbital flight in 2026, with an aim to build hundreds of Arcs per year longer term.