Unfortunately, the Roton concept died due to lack of  funding. A promising concept that met all it's initial testing goals, it was too far ahead of it's time to be accepted by investment groups in light of the communications sattelite crash of the late 1990's.

The original concept had been to have rocket powered helicopter rotors that would begin ascent and then tilt the blades down ward to lift to LEO. The centrifugal force was intended to pump the fuel, elinminating the need for costly turbo pumps. In addition, the craft would have taken off and landed much like a helicopter - from unimproved small airports even. You couldn't have used a grass strip due to fire hazard, but you could certainly have used a fairly small concrete pad.

The original proof of concept vehicle was built by Scaled composites (Yes, Burt Rutan & Co.) and was actually test flown on low-altitude runs down a runway at Rotary Rocket's proving grounds before the company failed. All tests were successful in meeting their intended flight regime goals, but funds for further testing were not found in time to save this promising concept that could have revolutionized the sace launch industry.

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