U.S. military-backed cargo pod promises 90-minute orbital delivery anywhere on Earth

A U.S. military-backed company plans to deliver a payload to any point on Earth within 90 minutes by prepositioning assets in space and then calling down delivery vehicles as needed. Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, has successfully completed two test drops of its Ghost reentry vehicle while carrying a bottle of whiskey and a software-defined radio. According to Aviation Week, the test was conducted using high-altitude balloons that dropped it from 35,000 feet and 68,500 feet.

While this test isn’t as exciting as SpaceX rockets landing on a platform at sea, it’s still an achievement for the team working on the project, as it’s the first test of the vehicle in two years. This demonstration is part of the U.S. Space Command’s Apollo Nexus training exercise, which aims to demonstrate the needed synchronization of multiple units in complex operations.

The test’s payload isn’t just two random items, either. They’ve been specifically selected to show that liquids …