02/19/2007, page 17
Edited by Frank Morring, Jr.
Printed headline: Power Up
Ad Astra Rocket Co. expects to begin operating a 200-kw. "flight-like" engine prototype in ground test by the end of the year. Ad Astra is a Houston-based company that grew out of research into Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimr) technology conducted at Johnson Space Center by seven-time shuttle astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz. The company has opened a facility in Costa Rica, where Chang-Diaz was born, for life-cycle testing that started at lower power levels in December 2006. Next up is a test series with a 100-kw. unit already in early checkout. Assembly of two flight variants of the engine is set for early next year, with in-space testing targeted for 2011. The company, which has an exclusive license to the original Vasimr patents under a privatization agreement with NASA (AW&ST Jan. 30, 2006, p. 12), has added new intellectual property in the past year. The Vasimr engine uses radio waves to heat propellant gas to extremely high temperatures, producing exhaust velocities in the 40-50-km./sec. range.