HONG KONG (Tsangs Group PR) — Tsangs Group is pleased to announce that we have invested in Ad Astra Rocket Company (“Ad Astra”), known for the project of Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (“VASIMR®“) space engine.
Founded in 2005 by former NASA astronaut and plasma physicist, Dr Franklin Chang Díaz, Ad Astra is an American rocket propulsion company dedicated to developing advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology.
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WASHINGTON (NASA HQ PR) — NASA has selected hundreds of small businesses and dozens of research institutions to develop technology to help drive the future of space exploration, ranging from novel sensors and electronics to new types of software and cutting-edge materials. The newly awarded projects under the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program also include a high-power electric rocket and a coating to make solar panels more efficient that could be used both in space and here on Earth.
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WEBSTER, Texas and SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Ad Astra Rocket Company PR) — Green hydrogen pioneer, Ad Astra Rocket Company, Costa Rica SRL, and Latin America’s asset management leader, Mesoamerica, are joining forces to form ProNova Energy, a joint venture dedicated to developing green hydrogen solutions for customers worldwide, with an initial focus in the Latin American region.
Green hydrogen is obtained by decomposing water into its constituents – hydrogen and oxygen – using renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, wind and solar. The process, called electrolysis, is carbon free and does not contribute to global warming.
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WEBSTER, Texas (Ad Astra Rocket Co. PR) — Ad Astra Rocket Company’s VASIMR® VX-200SS Plasma Rocket has completed 88 hours of continuous operation at 80 kW at the company’s Texas laboratory near Houston. In doing so, the company establishes a new high-power world endurance record in electric propulsion. The test also demonstrates the maturity of the VASIMR® engine technology as a competitive option for high-power in-space electric propulsion with either solar or nuclear electric power. Electric rockets operating above 50 kW/thruster are considered “high-power.”
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LeoLabs achievement represents the world’s most advanced commercial space radar for mapping low Earth orbit, deployed in record time
MENLO PARK, April 22, 2021 (LeoLabs PR) — LeoLabs, Inc., the leading commercial provider of low Earth orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services, today confirmed “fully operational” status for its Costa Rica Space Radar, effective immediately. This new phased-array radar reinforces LeoLabs’ leadership as the premier data and services provider to inform and protect the rapidly expanding commercial and governmental activities in LEO.
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WEBSTER, Texas and Halifax, NS (Ad Astra Rocket Co. PR) – A new generation radio-frequency (RF) Power Processing Unit (PPU) for the VASIMR engine, built for Ad Astra Rocket Company by Aethera Technologies Ltd. of Canada, has completed a full-power test in vacuum at Ad Astra’s Texas facility near Houston. The test, conducted on January 20th, involved operating the unit in hard vacuum and thermal steady-state at its full power rating of 120 kW. As part of the test, the PPU was also subjected to the magnetic field of the VASIMR engine to verify that there is no magnetic effect on the PPU performance.
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WEBSTER, Texas USA and HALIFAX, NS, Canada – A new generation radio-frequency (RF) Power Processing Unit (PPU) for the VASIMR engine, built by Aethera Technologies Ltd. of Canada, has completed a series of full power acceptance tests at Ad Astra Rocket Company’s Texas facility near Houston. The unit completed these tests on August 12 by operating in a thermal steady-state with no anomalies at its full power rating of 120 kW.
The RF PPU is now ready to be incorporated into Ad Astra’s vacuum facility so that it can be tested with the VX- 200SS VASIMR prototype. These tests are part of Ad Astra’s ongoing program under the NASA NextSTEP partnership contract.
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LIBERIA, Costa Rica (Ad Astra PR) — Ad Astra Rocket Company, Costa Rica, has initiated two major projects valued at approximately US$765,000 to strengthen Central America’s first green hydrogen ecosystem.
Project partners are, Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), a global foundation established by the Toyota Motor Corporation to support the development of a more mobile society, and IDBLab, the innovation laboratory of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) Group that supports early-stage ventures that can dramatically improve the lives of vulnerable populations due to economic, social or environmental factors. The CRUSA Foundation, a Costa Rican NGO, promoting Costa Rica’s development, is responsible for the administration of both projects.
WEBSTER, Texas USA and Halifax, NS, Canada (Aethera Technologies/Ad Astra Rocket Company PR) – A $1.5 million funding agreement has been signed between Aethera Technologies Limited of Halifax, NS and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the development of advanced high-power radiofrequency (RF) power processing units for Ad Astra’s VASIMR® engine.
The agreement, announced by the CSA on May 25, 2018, adds a major boost to Aethera’s RF power processing unit (RF-PPU) development program. The critical and innovative technology outcomes from this program supports the ongoing partnership between Ad Astra and Aethera to develop advanced, high-power, in-space electric propulsion.
NASA has released a document listing the 1,206 active Space Act Agreements (SAAs) the agency has with commercial companies, non-profit organizations and state and local governments.
From that list, I’ve extracted agreements with individual companies. Below you will find tables listing SAAs that NASA has signed with Virgin Group companies, Moon Express and NanoRacks. There is also a fourth table that has SAAs with a number of companies and organizations that we follow on Parabolic Arc.
SAAs come in three varieties: reimburseable, non-reimburseable and funded. Under reimburseable agreements, a company or organization will pay NASA for its services. No money exchanges hands under non-reimburseable agrements. And under funded agreements, NASA pays the company to perform work or provide services. (The space agency made substantial use of SAA’s in the Commercial Crew Program.)
WEBSTER, Texas (Ad Astra PR) — Ad Astra Rocket Company has successfully completed all contract milestones and deliverables for the second of its three-year Next Space Technology Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) contract with NASA. The 9 million dollar, fixed-price contract remains on schedule and on budget. After a successful year-two performance review at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. on July 24, 2017 and completion of a 10-hour cumulative test of the 200SSTM rocket at 100kW, Ad Astra received NASA approval to proceed with year-three activities.
House of Representatives
Space Subcommittee Hearing
In-Space Propulsion: Strategic Choices and Options
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2017 – 10:00am
Location: 2318 Rayburn House Office Building
Witnesses
WEBSTER, Texas (Ad Astra Rocket Co. PR) – Ad Astra Rocket Company has successfully completed all milestones and deliverables for the first of its three-year Next Space Technology Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) contract with NASA. The $9 million-dollar, fixed price agreement, is structured as a one-year contract with two additional one-year extensions, based on successful completion of project milestones. After a successful year-one performance review, Ad Astra received NASA approval to proceed with year-two activities.
WEBSTER, Texas (Ad Astra PR) – Ad Astra Rocket Company and NASA have successfully completed contract negotiations on the company’s Next Space Technology Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) award, announced on March 31, 2015, and now enter the execution phase of the project.
The parties executed the contract, a three-year, fixed price agreement, on August 7, 2015 for a total value of just over $9 million. The agreement is structured as a one-year contract with two additional one-year extensions based on the accomplishment of mutually agreed upon progress milestones.
WEBSTER, Texas (Ad Astra PR) – Ad Astra Rocket Company has been selected by NASA as one of the winners of the space agency’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) competitive solicitation, which opened in November of 2014. The official announcement was made by NASA on March 30.
