This feasibility study examined the potential conversion of a bulk cargo carrier and container transporter into a launch and landing vessel for a privately developed launch vehicle named the ROTON. The ROTON was to be a crewed, fully reusable spacecraft of single-stage-to-orbit design that launched like a rocket and landed like a helicopter. Its primary market was the launch of commercial satellites. The ship would operate from a home port and sail to international waters to perform ROTON launches and landings. Launching in international and equatorial waters offers advantages of reduced safety regulations and controls as well as a launch performance boost due to the Earth's maximum rotational velocity at the equator. The vertical launch and precision landing capability of the ROTON made the use of a ship with a large deck possible. The long flat deck (model photos right) and typically six holds of a bulk cargo carrier are suitable for the purpose. Launches occur at the bow on a launch car at maximum distance from the bridge and stern superstructure for safety. ROTONS are moved on deck on a launch trolley. ROTONS and payloads reside in holds beneath the deck. An added top deck contains two sets of rails, one for a mobile hangar to transfer the payloads to the vehicles and the other to transfer the flight-ready vehicles to the bow. A PANAMAX CAPE size cargo ship can accommodate several ROTONS and payloads, making multiple launches possible on a single voyage. The ship's home port would be Long Beach in California and the launch site in the  vicinity of the Kiribati Islands, south of Hawaii.​  

KEY:​  1 - Payload Transfer Hangar;  2 - Roton Rocket;  3 - Launch Car;  4 - Blast Deflectors;  5 - Blast Tunnel;  6 - Deck Crane;  7 - Operations Deck (Above Existing Deck);  8 - Rocket Hold Doors;  9 - Outer Rails {Hangar); Inner Rails (Launch Car)