Company - Impulse Space Propulsion
Product/Service - Mira, LEO Express
- Classification
- In-Space Transportation
- Category
- Space Tug
Commercial Lander
Commercial Mars Lander
- Fields
- In-Space Transportation
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2023
Space Tug
Mars Missions
- Relativity is scheduled to launch Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander in Terran R from Cape Canaveral, FL in an exclusive arrangement until 2029. Terran R will deliver Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander on a trans-Mars injection (TMI) orbit launched from Earth to Mars.
- Once in Mars orbit, the aeroshell-equipped Mars Lander will enter the red planet's atmosphere and propulsively land on Mars’ surface. Impulse’s Mars Lander will have its own payload capacity to the Martian surface, supporting the research and development needed to build toward humanity’s multiplanetary future.
- LEO Express-1 will carry a primary payload for an undisclosed customer. The mission profile is still being finalized, but he said the vehicle, after making some initial deployments, may raise its orbit, then lower it to demonstrate operations in what’s known as very low Earth orbit, around 300 kilometers.
- The performance of Mira depends on how much payload it is carrying, but he estimated that the vehicle can provide about 1,000 meters per second of delta-v, or change in velocity, with a payload of 300 kilograms. Its propulsion system, using storable propellants, has been extensively tested, with more than 1,000 seconds of runtime, while other elements of the vehicle are in various stages of design and manufacturing.
- Mira is the first in a series of vehicles Impulse Space is developing, with future vehicles capable of placing payloads into geostationary transfer orbits or direct insertions into geostationary orbit.
Sources
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News, Research, Projects and Patents
Title | Type | Date | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Impulse Space announces first orbital transfer vehicle mission | News | 2023-01-05 |