Post by plutronus on Apr 11, 2015 23:05:08 GMT -6
From: www.adastrarocket.com/AdAstraRelease191213.pdf (edited for brevity)
AD Astra Rocket Company Wins UMBRELLA NASA Advanced Propulsion Contract - March 2015
Ad Astra Rocket Company and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have signed an Umbrella Space Act Agreement (USAA) to continue the parties’ collaboration in the development of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket engine (VASIMR®).
Established in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company is the developer of the 'Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket' (VASIMR®) engine, an advanced plasma space propulsion system aimed at the emerging in-space transportation market.
And From: adastrarocket.com/AdAstraRelease033115final.pdf
PRESS RELEASE 033115, March 31, 2015 (edited for brevity)
AD Astra Rocket Company Wins Major NASA Advanced Propulsion Contract
Webster, Texas – for immediate release] – 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, 2015.
Ad Astra’s winning proposal for advancing the technology readiness of the VASIMR® engine was one of three selected in the field of advanced electric propulsion.
Since its inception in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company has continued to advance the TRL of the VASIMR® engine almost exclusively with private funding. In 2013, after more than $30 million in private capital, the company completed more than 10,000 successful high power firings of its most advanced VASIMR® prototype, the VX-200™, in Ad Astra’s Houston vacuum chamber facility. These tests demonstrated the engine’s excellent firing repeatability and performance (6 N thrust, 5000 sec Isp and a thruster efficiency greater than 70%) with no measurable signs of engine wear. To optimize company resources, however, the above tests were all of short duration (less than 1 minute) sufficient to reliably establish the rocket’s performance and measure thermal loads. A long duration (up to 100 hr.) test is now needed to demonstrate the engine’s new proprietary core design and thermal control subsystem and better estimate component lifetime. These technological advances will now be incorporated, under the present NASA contract, in a new fully integrated test article called the VX-200SS™ (for steady state).
ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
Short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, VASIMR® works with plasma, an electrically charged gas that can be heated to extreme temperatures by microwave radio waves that are controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields. The magnetic field also insulates nearby structures so exhaust temperatures well beyond the melting point of materials can be achieved. In rocket propulsion, the higher the temperature of the exhaust gases, the higher their velocity and the higher the fuel efficiency. Plasma rockets feature exhaust velocities far above those achievable by their chemical cousins (standard rocket engines now in use), so their fuel consumption is also extremely low.
A US Delaware corporation established in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company is the developer of the VASIMR® engine, an advanced plasma space propulsion system aimed at the emerging in-space transportation market. Ad Astra also owns and operates supporting research and development subsidiaries in the US and Costa Rica. Through its subsidiaries, the company also develops earthbound high technology applications in renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and applied physics. Ad Astra has its main laboratory and corporate headquarters in Webster, Texas, USA, about two miles from the NASA Johnson Space Center.
===================
Mars in 39 days?
US company wins NASA grant to try & reach Red Planet
From: www.etupdates.com/2015/04/07/video-mars-in-39-days-us-company-wins-nasa-grant-to-try-reach-red-planet/
Posted: April 7, 2015 by ET-Update Website (excerpts)
The CEO, Franklin
Chang-Diaz, who is a former astronaut who flew on seven space shuttle
missions, says their new VASIMR rocket engine is
revolutionary.
“This is like no other rocket that you may have seen in the past. It is a
plasma rocket engine. The Vasimr rocket is not used for launching things into orbit. It
is used to long-haul push vehicles that are already in orbit, which we call ‘in space propulsion,’”
he said in a promotional video.
The Vasimr engine works by heating plasma, an electrically charged gas,
to extreme temperatures using microwave radio waves. Strong magnetic fields then
funnel this plasma out of the back of the engine. This in turn creates
thrust, helping to propel the engine at extreme speeds.
AD Astra Rocket Company Wins UMBRELLA NASA Advanced Propulsion Contract - March 2015
Ad Astra Rocket Company and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have signed an Umbrella Space Act Agreement (USAA) to continue the parties’ collaboration in the development of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket engine (VASIMR®).
Established in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company is the developer of the 'Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket' (VASIMR®) engine, an advanced plasma space propulsion system aimed at the emerging in-space transportation market.
And From: adastrarocket.com/AdAstraRelease033115final.pdf
PRESS RELEASE 033115, March 31, 2015 (edited for brevity)
AD Astra Rocket Company Wins Major NASA Advanced Propulsion Contract
Webster, Texas – for immediate release] – 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, 2015.
Ad Astra’s winning proposal for advancing the technology readiness of the VASIMR® engine was one of three selected in the field of advanced electric propulsion.
Since its inception in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company has continued to advance the TRL of the VASIMR® engine almost exclusively with private funding. In 2013, after more than $30 million in private capital, the company completed more than 10,000 successful high power firings of its most advanced VASIMR® prototype, the VX-200™, in Ad Astra’s Houston vacuum chamber facility. These tests demonstrated the engine’s excellent firing repeatability and performance (6 N thrust, 5000 sec Isp and a thruster efficiency greater than 70%) with no measurable signs of engine wear. To optimize company resources, however, the above tests were all of short duration (less than 1 minute) sufficient to reliably establish the rocket’s performance and measure thermal loads. A long duration (up to 100 hr.) test is now needed to demonstrate the engine’s new proprietary core design and thermal control subsystem and better estimate component lifetime. These technological advances will now be incorporated, under the present NASA contract, in a new fully integrated test article called the VX-200SS™ (for steady state).
ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
Short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, VASIMR® works with plasma, an electrically charged gas that can be heated to extreme temperatures by microwave radio waves that are controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields. The magnetic field also insulates nearby structures so exhaust temperatures well beyond the melting point of materials can be achieved. In rocket propulsion, the higher the temperature of the exhaust gases, the higher their velocity and the higher the fuel efficiency. Plasma rockets feature exhaust velocities far above those achievable by their chemical cousins (standard rocket engines now in use), so their fuel consumption is also extremely low.
A US Delaware corporation established in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company is the developer of the VASIMR® engine, an advanced plasma space propulsion system aimed at the emerging in-space transportation market. Ad Astra also owns and operates supporting research and development subsidiaries in the US and Costa Rica. Through its subsidiaries, the company also develops earthbound high technology applications in renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and applied physics. Ad Astra has its main laboratory and corporate headquarters in Webster, Texas, USA, about two miles from the NASA Johnson Space Center.
===================
Mars in 39 days?
US company wins NASA grant to try & reach Red Planet
From: www.etupdates.com/2015/04/07/video-mars-in-39-days-us-company-wins-nasa-grant-to-try-reach-red-planet/
Posted: April 7, 2015 by ET-Update Website (excerpts)
The CEO, Franklin
Chang-Diaz, who is a former astronaut who flew on seven space shuttle
missions, says their new VASIMR rocket engine is
revolutionary.
“This is like no other rocket that you may have seen in the past. It is a
plasma rocket engine. The Vasimr rocket is not used for launching things into orbit. It
is used to long-haul push vehicles that are already in orbit, which we call ‘in space propulsion,’”
he said in a promotional video.
The Vasimr engine works by heating plasma, an electrically charged gas,
to extreme temperatures using microwave radio waves. Strong magnetic fields then
funnel this plasma out of the back of the engine. This in turn creates
thrust, helping to propel the engine at extreme speeds.