The Skunkworks does not publish a roadmap. But the hangar has a shape, and the shape tells you what comes next. These are not promises. They are directions.
PROPULSION · BLOCKING
Active investigation
SSTO propulsion fix
X-1 / X-2 root cause and SOLACE unblock
The hardest class of engineering problem: no broken part to replace. The design itself is the defect. Two vehicles, same engine, same cutoff, same absence of explanation. Until this is solved, SOLACE cannot fly and the SSTO concept stays grounded. The investigation is the Skunkworks' primary open problem. Everything downstream depends on it.
BlockingRoot cause: unknown
VESTA · DUNA OPERATIONS
In Duna orbit
VESTA deployment
Repositionable Duna-orbit science satellite
VESTA detaches from HESTIA at Duna and finds its orbit. Melody Kerman operates it from a windowed control station. If VESTA works, the programme has eyes at the destination before crew land. FARVIEW heritage, validated at Duna. The next iteration could be a fixed Duna-orbit observation platform, or a relay network for surface operations.
FARVIEW lineageEyes before crew
ALLEGED · COMPARTMENTED
No comment
AURORA
X-9 Advanced Interplanetary Test Vehicle
Publicly, a paper vehicle. Internally, an alleged functional airframe awaiting propulsion and power integration. HESTIA has to fly first. AURORA cannot be visible until then. If genuine, HESTIA's drive is the first of a class, not a one-off. Solar-system-wide operational envelope. Fuel that does not scale with distance. KeedMartin has neither confirmed nor denied.
★ Alleged airframe completeHPJSD second-genPost-HESTIA disclosure
DEEP SPACE · DEFERRED
Not built
Gateway Probe
Reserved patch: BRIDGE
Passage 2 is through the Juno wormhole and silent in another stellar system. The Gateway Probe is the long-term answer: a probe designed to re-establish contact or determine why contact is impossible. It has not been built. The Skunkworks built the Passage probes. If the programme builds BRIDGE, the Skunkworks builds BRIDGE.
Reserved patch: BRIDGEInterstellar
OPTICS · NEXT GENERATION
Heritage active
CLEARVIEW lineage
POTHOLE-CAM to CLEARVIEW-1 to VESTA to ?
The optics arc started with a pothole camera, became the best deep-space imager in the programme, and is now in Duna orbit. The next step: a purpose-built planetary survey telescope, not a hardened derivative. Something designed from the start for astronomical observation at another planet. The data from VESTA will shape the spec.
Exceeds specFARVIEW → VESTA → ?
PROPULSION · EVOLUTION
In service
VAJE family
Afterburning jet engines · Unity descent system
Six VAJE-lineage afterburners fly on Unity for descent cross-range recovery. The nozzle that started an OMQ dispute has a family now. The next step: a full air-breathing ascent stage, not just descent recovery. SSTO may be grounded, but the air-breathing propulsion line is not. VAJE proved the concept. Unity is flying it. The next vehicle could breathe all the way to orbit.
6 afterburners on UnityOMQ: 6-8% · KMSK: 15%
THE SEQUENCE
HESTIA arrives at Duna. VESTA deploys. The SSTO investigation continues. The propulsion classification lifts or it does not. AURORA waits. The Gateway Probe waits behind that. The Skunkworks does not publish a schedule. But the sequence is clear: solve the grounded problem, fly the classified one, then build the next.