The award is to support Nasa’s COSMIC (Commercial Orbital System for Microgravity In-Space Crystallization) demonstration. It will be using the microgravity environment to potentially advance crystal growth, for pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and advanced materials.
“Momentus is proud to support NASA and the COSMIC mission with our versatile Vigoride platform,” said John Rood, CEO of Momentus.
“We’re excited to play a key role in this flight test that seeks to unlock new frontiers in space-based manufacturing and usher in a new era where microgravity becomes a driver of innovation and economic growth.”
COSMIC
COSMIC was the winner of the NASA TechLeap Prize’s Space Technology Payload Challenge. Building on scientific research already carried out on the International Space Station and is a step toward commercializing in-space production.
Specifically, while in-orbit, the SpaceWorks and Astral Materials payloads will demonstrate the semiconductor manufacturing tech.
Momentus
We reported in February that the San Jose-based Momentus was also working with Caltech on in-space manufacturing.
This was under DARPA’s NOM4D (Nomad”) programme. This orbital demonstration phase (number three) follows on from laboratory-based testing.
“Caltech and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated tremendous advances in the first two phases and have now partnered in Phase 3 with space-launch companies to conduct in-space testing of their novel assembly processes and materials,” previously said Andrew Detor, DARPA NOM4D program manager.
Juno Propulsion
Note that Momentus is also winning a $2.5 million contract from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. This is to conduct a demonstration in-orbit; of a new thruster called the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). The aim is “to redefine the state of the art in in-space propulsion”.
“This latest contract is the sixth contract we have been awarded in recent months by NASA,” said Rood. “And along with contracts we are currently executing to support U.S. Defense Department organizations like the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Labs innovation organization SpaceWERX, we are very pleased to be playing major roles on programs at the forefront of space technology.”
Under NASA’s Space Technology Payload Challenge, Juno Propulsion will develop the RDRE thruster. For its part, Momentus will provide the Vigoride satellite platform and operate it in space. This will enable Juno’s RDRE thruster to undergo testing in orbit.
Image: Momentus, Vigoride v3
See also: NASA, Katalyst Space plot robotic rescue of Swift spacecraft
