About the Hermes

The Hermes spacecraft is a suborbital space shuttle built on the premise that anyone should be able to take a trip into space without spending their life savings. It's inspired by people like yourself who want to go into space but don't want to spend a fortune to get there. “There aren’t too many people who get to be astronauts,” explains Morris Jarvis, the founder of STAR Systems and the Hermes spacecraft. “I think anybody who wants to fly into space should have that opportunity.”

The Hermes spacecraft is a fully reusable, vertical takeoff/horizontal landing, suborbital launch platform designed to provide space tourists, scientists and technology developers with the launch capabilities they want, when they want it and for a price they can afford.

Hermes Rocket Specifications & Capabilities:

  • Crew: 2
  • Passengers: 4
  • Propulsion: Hybrid Rocket Motors
  • Flight Profile: VTHL (Vertical Takeoff, Horizontal Landing)
  • Maximum Altitude: 328,000+ ft (62 mi | 100 km)
  • Maximum Velocity: Mach 3+ (2,300 mph | 3,700 kph)
  • Payload: Human, Scientific, Educational, Technology
  • Spacecraft design based on proven and tested NASA technology
  • Proprietary rocket propulsion system designed to allow safer, lower cost, launch-on-demand capability
  • Avionics system using commercially available, "off-the-shelf" technology
  • Encrypted "remote" cockpit system allows spacecraft to be controlled remotely for low altitude test landings

An Integrated Development Program

The program's primary focus is the integrated development of the Hermes spacecraft and its subsystems. We use the term "integrated development," because the Hermes is not "break-through" technology, but rather the product of over 60 years of aerospace research, and development of "off the shelf" components. By transforming what has already been done in the past, we are able to build a profitable, commercial product for our customers.

We've conducted an in-depth study of how the space industry has developed over its long history, in addition to identifying which concepts hold the most practical potential for commercial application. The lessons learned from this research has guided the development of the Hermes.

Where We're Going
The Hermes is still under construction, but we hope to have our first test flights by 2014. Really, it's a matter of funding and bringing together the right group of people. We've compiled a timeline of major milestones and developed a budget for getting the Hermes into space. We need about $8,000,000 to be fully funded, but we believe we can achieve our next major milestone, tethered flight tests, for about $500,000. You can help us reach these goals by supporting us, or consulting our investor relations page.