Patent Approved for Space Propulsion System Poised to Transform Orbital Space Logistics

TransAstra’s Omnivore solar-thermal thruster uses alternative propellants, including water, to power space tugs that deliver satellites faster, cheaper, safer through space

Orbital logistics and space mining leader TransAstra Corporation announced that it has been granted a patent on a solar-thermal rocket engine that will revolutionize the rapidly expanding satellite industry, and accelerate the global space economy.

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The company’s Omnivore thruster, which powers its Worker Bee space tugs, marks a significant departure from existing rocket propellant systems because it operates with multiple propellant types, including water, either individually or in combination, and is powered directly by the sun’s energy without the need for costly solar panels or electronics.

Outperforming Rocket Engine Mainstays
Most of today’s rocket engines use dangerous chemical reactions to heat, and accelerate propellant to produce thrust. The use of reactive chemical propellants is extremely dangerous, due to their explosive nature and carcinogenic risks, and exceedingly expensive, due to costs associated with regulatory compliance and soaring fuel prices. Other engines use solar-electric power, converting the sun’s energy into electricity with large, heavy solar panels. These are not only expensive – $10 million worth of solar arrays typically creates less than 1 Newton of thrust – but are also sluggish, requiring four days to accelerate from 0 mph to 60 mph. Poised to disrupt these space propulsion mainstays, Omnivore is typically ten times faster than electric propulsion at about one fifth the cost, and can use ordinary tap water as propellant, for an alternative that is clean, cheap, safe, and affordable.

“Omnivore feeds a satellite industry that is hungry for technology offering increased speed at decreased cost,” said TransAstra CEO Joel C. Sercel, PhD. “Plus, it can operate on propellant that’s so safe you can drink it.”

The newly patented, breakthrough technology is the first-of-its-kind solar-thermal propulsion system to have been successfully tested, and to be designed to be “propellant-agnostic,” meaning it can operate not only on water, but on virtually any volatile fluid (one that evaporates). Its propellants, which can include other fluids such as ammonia or even ordinary rocket fuel, include those that can be found both on Earth and in space.

“Our intention with the Omnivore thruster, in addition to providing greater speed and safety at less cost, has always been to create a propulsion system that can be resupplied as quickly and easily as possible,” Sercel emphasized. “By running on water – a resource we know exists on the moon and in asteroids – this technology helps space take a giant leap towards becoming a more self-reliant and earth-independent ecosystem, and establishes a key part of the infrastructure needed for the 100,000-plus commercial satellites expected to be launched into low-earth orbit (LEO) in the next decade.”

Other companies have propulsion systems that can use water as propellant, Sercel explained, but all of them are powered by costly electric propulsion systems. Omnivore™ is the only system that uses water and safe, clean, efficient concentrated sunlight as a power source allowing it to provide many times the thrust at a fraction of the cost.

Using the Omnivore™ thruster, TransAstra’s first generation Worker Bee space tugs enable the delivery of customer satellites and full satellite constellations to operational slots in LEO, medium earth orbit (MEO), geosynchronous equatorial orbits (GEO), and cislunar space, in days instead of months. (For example, TransAstra’s Worker Bee can deliver a 24-satellite LEO constellation in 12 days, compared to a 120-day delivery using traditional electric propulsion, and can deliver a 96-satellite constellation on a single launch.)

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The first generation of Worker Bee space tugs will use water launched from the earth, with later generations of TransAstra tugs using water or other propellants harvested in space. Later generations of TransAstra tugs will also use a variant of the Omnivore™ thruster that can operate using either liquid hydrogen or water as propellant. The liquid hydrogen variant of the Worker Bee space tug will provide an even greater breakthrough, roughly comparable to nuclear rockets but with clean, safe, affordable solar thermal power systems.

“For in-space transportation,” Sercel notes, “Worker Bee and Omnivore will render legacy chemical rockets and electric thrusters obsolete within a few years.”

TransAstra’s other existing and pending patents relate to the space resource mining technology it is developing precisely for the purpose of harvesting water as propellant in space.

With the addition of the Omnivore™ patent, TransAstra’s existing patent portfolio features patents for inventions that include:

• Thermal power and electricity for lunar outposts
• Asteroid mining and in-space propellant storage depots
• Extraction of gas propellants from lunar and Martian polar regions
• Optical Mining™ Technology for mining asteroids

Within the next 12 months, the company expects to receive approvals on approximately a dozen additional patents.

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