About Us

Who we are

Founded in 2007

Ad Astra Energy and Environmental services, or “AASEA” for its acronym in Spanish, was founded in 2007 as a subsidiary to Ad Astra Rocket Company, a Delaware Corporation. The facility, located in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province, was conceived to address the mounting environmental problem of bio-infectious waste throughout the world incorporating plasma processing technology in partnership with other companies in the United States. In 2009, ASSEA diversified its portfolio to explore the use of “green hydrogen” in energy and fuel-cell electric transportation; and thus pursue another dream of our CEO: the full decarbonization of the economy.

Space and renewable energy have a lot in common. Most prevalent of their connections is that many technologies we have today that have allowed us to advance in the field of renewable energy, are the product of, or were popularized, during the space race days (i.e. hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels, etc.). However, on a less tangible level, Dr. Chang Díaz (CEO) often comments about how going to space gives you an unbelievable appreciation for the Earth.
Our goal in Costa Rica is to provide expertise and excellent customer service in diagnosing, customizing, installing, and maintaining green energy solutions – both large and small – for stationary or mobile applications.

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“It humbles you in a way that is incomparable to any other experience. To see this one planet and realize that 8 billion different people live on that one sphere. It fills you with a sense of duty and responsibility to protect that blue-green sphere. But it also unites us. Many astronauts will tell you, when they come back from a flight, that they no longer feel like citizens of a particular country, but instead as global citizens, citizens of Earth, our only home.”

 

Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz

Ad Astra Rocket Costa Rica

2006
Bringing Ad Astra to Costa Rica

In July of 2006 Ad Astra inaugurated Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica SRL. The facility, located in Liberia, Guanacaste, was established to support the plasma experimental program in Houston. By December of that same year our Costa Rica facility fired its first plasma shot.

2007
Earth and Space

The next year, the vacuum chamber and plasma laboratory in Costa Rica became fully operational and our team of engineers initiated the material studies project.

Simultaneously, Ad Astra Servicios Energéticos y Ambientales (AASEA) SRL was incorporated in Costa Rica.

2008
Collaboration with CORAAL

In 2008, Ad Astra signed a collaborative agreement with Costa Rica Aerospace Alliance  (CORAAL). One year later in 2009, Ad Astra and CORAAL initiated the ISS Platform Mockup Design project.

2010
Plasma Experiments Mature, CORAAL ISS Mockup Project Takes Form

Ad Astra continued testing the thermal environment of the VASIMR® helicon first stage, performing long duration plasma experiments at low power (13kW).

Meanwhile, a contract was signed with Costa Rica’s CONICIT to complete the development of the ISS Platform Engineering Mockup by Ad Astra and CORAAL.

2011
Ad Astra's Green Journey Begins

The Ad Astra and CORAAL team completes their ISS Platform project. As the CORAAL project concluded, a new green “leaf” was turned over at Ad Astra’s Costa Rica location. A contract was signed with RECOPE to develop Costa Rica’s first green hydrogen ecosystem. Additionally, an alliance was formed between Ad Astra, Cummins, and EARTH University to demonstrate power generation technology based on internal combustion of hydrogen and biogas.

2012
Cummins | Ad Astra

An Ad Astra/Cummins collaboration partially funded the design and construction of a small wind turbine, that would become a component of Ad Astra’s  green hydrogen ecosystem.

2013
The Green Journey Continues

Ad Astra, Cummins, and Earth University complete the Hydrogen and biogas gen-set project.

Ad Astra and RECOPE complete Costa Rica’s first green hydrogen production facility, operating at 700 bar.

2014
Ad Astra Harnessing Wind Power

Ad Astra completes construction of its 5kW demonstration wind turbine.

2015
Ad Astra | ICE

Ad Astra began work on the pilot plan for ICE’s hydrogen management at the Miravalles geothermal power generation plant in December of this year.

2016
Adding More Elements to our Green Hydrogen Ecosystem

Ad Astra builds a 78kW solar farm to supply all of its electrical needs and integrates it with the 5kW wind turbine previously developed.  

New partners join Ad Astra’s green hydrogen ecosystem project, including: Costa Rica’s Sistema de Banca Para el Desarrollo, Cummins, Air Liquide, US Hybrid, and Purdy Motor SA.

2017
Ad Astra's Green Hydrogen Ecosystem is Complete with the Launch of NYUTI

Ad Astra incorporates hydrogen storage tanks, an H35 (350 bar) hydrogen dispenser and supporting infrastructure. 

At the end of this year we launched Central America’s first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus, NYUTI.

2018
NYUTI and Costa Rica’s President-Elect

In May, NYUTI was tasked with transporting President-Elect Carlos Alvarado Quesada and his new cabinet members to the inauguration ceremony in San José, Costa Rica.

At the end of this same year, Costa Rica welcomed a fleet of 4 hydrogen fuel cell electric sedans, the Toyota Mirai. These were the first fuel cell electric passenger cars to enter the Latin American Market. 

2019
The Mirai Enters Costa Rica's Tourism Industry

The fleet of Toyota Mirai are acclimated to become a part of Guanacaste’s vast tourism industry. The Mirai are available for rent at certain resorts and used as airport pick-up vehicles by Costa Rica transportation company, Relaxury.

Ad Astra begins it’s H70 (700 bar) fast-refueling expansion of the green hydrogen ecosystem, a project that would allow us to fully re-fuel the Toyota Mirai and other Hydrogen Fuel Cell Sedans, in minutes.

2020
Ad Astra Persists Despite Pandemic

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, our small team at Ad Astra Costa Rica worked hard to help LeoLabs find a home and build the world’s most advanced space radar. Our team helped with the property lease agreement, worked with government agencies to secure permits, and even built the high-precision support structure for the radar technology.

2021
Major Leaps for Earth and Space

In April of 2021, we inaugurated, along with nation leaders and owners of the project, LeoLabs Inc, the world’s most advanced space radar in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. 

The H70 hydrogen ecosystem expansion project is completed with first full re-fueling demonstration.

CEO Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz and fellow Ad Astra engineer Norberto Arce make history in Latin America, driving a Toyota Mirai from Liberia to San Jose and back on one tank of hydrogen, a 430-km round-trip, returning with more than 100km of fuel to spare.

Clients & Partners