First Customer of Plasma
Engine
The plasma engine
developed by physicist
and former NASA
astronaut Franklin Chang
to travel to the Moon,
Mars, and beyond,
already has a commercial
customer.
Dr. Chang, Ad Astra
Rocket chairman, and Art
Dula and Chris Stott, of
British firm Excalibur
Exploration, signed an
agreement that grants
the latter the first
option to buy VASIMR
engines for “the
recovery of resources in
space.”
Dr. Chang explained that
the British company
would arrange trips to
asteroids, and other
celestial bodies, in
order to obtain
resources, such as
water, to supply human
colonies on the moon,
space stations o
galactic hotels, for
example.
Ad Astra plans to
commercially sell the
engine in three to four
years. The company’s
labs in Houston, Texas,
and Liberia, Guanacaste,
are currently engaged in
developing the prototype
of the plasma engine
that is to travel to
space.
|
|
