Amidst the increasing interest in supersonic transport business, new emerging companies are presenting its projects and one sector which aims to transform itself or move forward into this direction is suborbital space tourism, with companies like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin or PD Aerospace (PDAS) developing new point-to-point high speed transportation vehicles. PDAS is a private Japanese company developing a spaceplane capable of suborbital flight dedicated to space tourism thanks to their original rotating detonation engine (RDE) with capabilities of both jet and rocket engine. In order to identify the current state of the company and the potential opportunities and risks PD Aerospace will have in the near future, a business case study is conducted. This is complemented with a business model Canvas which helps to have a broad overview of key factors such as partnerships, capabilities or the value proposition in a visual manner. Even thought PDAS is currently affected by financial and technological limitations, and the near-future market presents itself as volatile and competitive, the company presents a robust business model and still have plenty of opportunities to capitalize on. Their technology demonstrators planned for 2025, if successful, could generate a substantial attraction of funding as their RDE has the potential to be a disruptive technology thanks to its theoretically increase in fuel efficiency (up to 25% compared to regular combustion engines) and the capability to reduce emissions. Even though PDAS current aim is space tourism, it is clear that the business is a technological and financial stepping stone in the direction of future P2P high-speed transportation systems. This thesis aims to be a base for understanding the current state of PDAS and their planned business, as a starting point to evaluate the evolution, capabilities and the competitive edge of the company in possible future works, which should be focused on new-found funding, technological demonstrators and evolution of the market.
