Ad Astra Rocket Company
The Ad Astra Rocket Company is a rocket propulsion company dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. Located in Webster, Texas, several miles from NASA's Johnson Space Center, the company was incorporated on January 14, 2005. The President and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company is retired astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz.[1] The company has been working on Chang-Diaz's concept of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, known by its acronym VASIMR. The VASIMR is intended to achieve several advantages over current chemical rocket designs, including lunar cargo transport, in-space refueling, and ultra-high speeds for distant space missions.[2]
The Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica (AARC CR) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ad Astra Rocket Company. AARC CR was formed in 2005. The facility is located approximately 10 km west of the city of Liberia, capital of the province of Guanacaste, on the campus of EARTH University. On December 13, 2006, the Costa Rican team of AARC generated its first plasma.[not verified in body]
History
The VASIMR is a state-of-the-art rocket design that uses plasma for rocket propulsion. Chang-Diaz developed the concept of the VASIMR in 1979, shortly following his graduate research in fusion and plasma-based rocket propulsion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After being selected as an astronaut in 1980, Chang-Diaz served on seven different shuttle missions. After retiring in 2005 from NASA, Chang-Diaz formed Ad Astra Rocket Company to develop his concept of the VASIMR.[citation needed]
Current activity
Ad Astra Rocket Company developed the VX-200, a full-scale prototype of the VASIMR engine intended for ground testing. The company successfully tested the prototype in September 2009.[3] Following the test, the company will begin preparations for the VF-200-1, the first flight unit. Ad Astra hopes to send the VF-200-1 into space by late 2012. The VASIMR technology could be useful in the near future for interplanetary space travel. The VASIMR design would be capable of reducing the trip to Mars to less than four months, whereas current chemical rockets take around eight months.[4] A nuclear-powered VASIMR engine could further shorten the trip to under six weeks, while smaller scale solar powered engines could tug satellites through different orbits and deliver loads to the moon.
As of October 2010[update], the company is aiming to offer the technology for space tug missions to help "clean up the ever-growing problem of space trash."[5]
Funding
Ad Astra was initially funded with $6 million in 2005, with an additional $14 million from private sources by 2010. Seventy percent of this funding has been from Costa Rican sources. As of October 2010[update], the company is looking to raise an additional $85 million by 2014 in order to support continued development of VASIMR technology and getting it into commercial use by 2014.[5]
In order to support this venture, Ad Astra announced in October 2010 that it will become a "limited public corporation", offering stock to qualified investors willing to invest a minimum of $25,000 on Costa Rica's National Stock Exchange. Investment opportunities will initially be limited to citizens of Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador, who will be restricted from selling the shares until 18 months after purchase.[5] The private placement for 100,000 shares is scheduled to begin on November 8, 2010.[6]
As of October 2010[update], the company is considering the possibility of becoming "a public company [in the United States] in the future."[5]
References
- ^ Ad Astra Rocket Company – About us, company website, accessed 2010-03-10
- ^ VASIMR Rocket Design
- ^ Ad Astra press release: "VASIMR VX-200 reaches 200 kW power milestone", September 30, 2009
- ^ Future Plans for Ad Astra Rocket Company
- ^ a b c d Rocket Company Launches Stock Offering, TicoTimes (San Jose, Costa Rica), 2010-10-01, accessed 2010-10-02.
- ^ [1], El Financiero, 2010-11-01, accessed 2010-11-03.