A FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE? : TEST SPACECRAFT MAKES MOJAVE DEBUT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

A start-up company took a step closer to its goal of creating a reusable spaceship Monday when i rolled out its six-story test vehicle before a gathering of several hundred guests.

With an estimated 1,500 people on hand - including best-selling author Tom Clancy, an investor in the project - Rotary Rocket rolled out its Atmospheric Test Vehicle at the company's plant at Mojave Airport.

Sixty-three feet tall and likened by one observer to a giant traffic cone with helicopter blades, the ATV will test technologies the company plans to use in a reusable spaceship Rotary Rocket hopes to launch in 18 months.

``This is the first step of the dream Rotary Rocket is putting together,'' said Gary Hudson, the company's chief executive officer.

Rotary Rocket is developing a spacecraft called Roton that will blast into space like a rocket, but will return to Earth using helicopter-like rotors. Roton will be similar in size and shape to the ATV, and piloted by a two-person crew.

The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company plans to spend $150 million to develop Roton. The ATV cost $.8 million and took seven months to build.

The ATV will not go into space, but will be used to test a variety of systems and structures, including the rotary landing system. Flight tests will begin in four to six weeks and will last several months.

Guests arriving at the rollout were greeted with Pink Floyd's ``Dark Side of the Moon'' album blasting from loudspeakers, and the sight of Clancy dressed in cargo pants, a camouflage jacket and a striped railroad engineer's hat.

Clancy, author of ``The Hunt for Red October,'' ``Clear and Present Danger,'' and other high-tech thrillers, said he was wearing the hat because he believes the new rocket is analogous to the steam engines of the 19th century.

``It wasn't the wagon trains that opened up the United States, it was the steam engine,'' Clancy told the gathering. ``The Union Pacific Railroad opened up the west. This (space technology) is the new Union Pacific Railroad.''

After the ceremony, Clancy said he has invested $1 millio his own money in the project.

``Anybody can invest in mutual funds. This is a cool thing to invest in,'' he said.

Clancy said he met Hudson through a mutual friend about nine years ago. Hudson, he said, was a man with a dream.

``It's going to change the world,'' Clancy said.

Clancy said he doesn't know whether he'll use a Roton-like vehicle in any of his future books.

The company envisions a fleet of Roton rockets, which would take off vertically like a conventional rocket, fly into low-Earth orbit to release its payload and then return.

On its descent, helicopter-like rotors - each powered by a tiny hydrogen peroxide rocket in its tip - will deploy from the nose, slowing the craft for its landing.

Run by executives with experience in the space and computer industries, Rotary Rocket is trying to capture a piece of the commercial space market that is projected to include the launching of 2,000 satellites over the next decade. The satellite launch market is projd to become a $10 billion industry.

The 400,000-pound spacecraft will be manned by a pilot and a cargo specialist. Rotary Rocket opted for a piloted vehicle because the company calculates that manned vehicles have an accident rate that is about 2,000 times less than unpiloted vehicles.

The Roton is expect to be able to carry a 7,000-pound payload into space. Flights are projected to cost $7 million, about one-tenth of what it now costs to get satellites into space.

In addition to the unusual rotor landing system, Rotary Rocket's craft breaks from convention with its novel rotary engine, running on jet fuel and liquid oxygen, and an outer skin cooled by water.

Rotary Rocket has a total work force of 70 people, with 50 of those workers in Mojave. There's also about 100 contractors and consultants working for the company.

Mojave-based Scaled Composites, the company founded by around-the-world Voyager aircraft designer Burt Rutan, is a major contractor, the company said.

company expects to be able to process a returning Roton in one to two days for its next flight. Space shuttles can take several weeks to be prepared for a mission after returning from space.

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4 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color--Ran in AV Edition only) Author Tom Clancy, left, an investor in the Rotary Rocket spacecraft project, autographs a book Monday at Mojave Airport.

(2--Color--Ran in AV Edition only) The six-story Atmospheric Test Vehicle occupies the Rotary Rocket hangar at Mojave Airport.

(3--Ran in AV Edition only) About 1,500 people get their first look at the Atmospheric Test Vehicle, a prototype for reusable spacecraft.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News

(4--Ran in AV Edition only) Rotary Rocket's plans envision a piloted spacecraft that uses helicopter-style rotors to control its descent, as in this rendering.