PARIS—French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation, maker of the popular Rafale series of twin-engine fighter jets, is planning to go orbital.
At the Paris Air Show, Dassault unveiled its “Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’Exploration,” or Vortex, which translates to Reusable Orbital Transport and Exploration Vehicle. The manufacturer has signed agreements with the European Space Agency (ESA) and French Armed Forces to chart a path to demonstrations of the low-Earth orbit (LEO) spaceplane concept.
