Company Profile
Ad Astra Rocket Company
Company Overview
Ad Astra Rocket Company is comprised of a small team of highly skilled scientist and engineers dedicated to solving major global issues. In Houston, we have been working on the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) engine for the last 17 years. The VASIMR® engine has the potential to revolutionize how we move around in space. It has the best of both worlds being a high-power electric rocket engine, with major fuel efficiency and the ability to scale up in power (all the way up to MWs according to our calculations)! The engine is in the final stages of testing, after which, our company will switch focus to finalizing the design, building and testing a space flight prototype.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
We accomplished a major milestone last year by running our engine at 80 kW for 88hr straight, steady state; as far as we know, this is the longest anyone has run a plasma rocket engine, at that power level, at Steady-State, and at the technology readiness level we hold, in the world. That accomplishment allowed us to complete our NASA NEXTStep contract. At the beginning of this year we were rewarded a NASA SBIR contract, which we are working on now. In the near to medium term we will be focusing on finalizing the testing, design and building of a space flight prototype!