Commercial deal for VASIMR

[docm]

Link....<br /><br />Sounds to me likr the "Excalibur Exploration Ltd." company is a shell for a key investor as it has no web presence I can find.<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Plasma Rocket Engine: New Agreement Inked<br /><br />Posted on August 22, 2007 @ 09:44:36 EDT<br /><br />Author Leonard David<br /><br />The first agreement for the commercial use of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) has been signed. Work on the VASIMR concept has been championed by former NASA astronaut, Franklin Chang Diaz. <br /><br />The agreement involves the Houston, Texas-based Ad Astra Rocket Company — Diaz is Chairman and CEO of the firm — and Excalibur Exploration Ltd., a British company based in Douglas, Isle of Man.<br /><br />The deal grants Excalibur the right of first refusal to acquire VASIMR engines for space resource recovery.<br /><br />Furthermore, the agreement — signed August 20th between the two groups — also provides for an Excalibur-funded six month study to support the development of a conceptual asteroid mission using the VASIMR engine.<br /><br />That engine is a high power and high specific impulse plasma rocket, currently under development by Ad Astra to support solar and, ultimately, nuclear electric in-space propulsion needs.<br /><br />Ad Astra Rocket Company was founded in 2005 to commercialize the VASIMR engine, a promising propulsion breakthrough initially studied by NASA.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mithridates]

So what does this mean in practical terms, that is, the date that we get to see it put into practice? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>

 

[docm]

Just found more on Excalibur here and as noted below Chang-Diaz is on their advisory board along with former JSC & KSC directors and a former President of Lockheed Space Ops.<br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>><br />Soon after, a formal announcement is expected concerning the Excalibur project, a private sector joint venture between the Isle of Man, the US, Russia and Japan to recommission aspects of the Russian Almaz (the Russian word for 'diamond') space programme. Phase one of the project envisages the launch of the Almaz reuseable space capsules for orbital space tourism and cargo deliveries.<br /> /><p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />and here<br /><br />Almaz (aka Salyut) @ Wiki<br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>Company</b><br /><br />Excalibur Almaz is based in Douglas, Isle of Man, with offices in Houston and Moscow. The company owns its spacecraft but contracts expert services, including refurbishment, launch, control, and recovery.<br /><br />Company founders include: CEO and space law expert Art Dula, CFO and space commercialization veteran Buckner Hightower, and Sales & Marketing Vice President Chris Stott. Stott is also CEO of ManSat and on the board of the International Space University. The company's COO is U.S. Air Force General (ret.) Dirk Jameson, who once commanded the Air Force's Vandenberg missile launching base. Chief of spacecraft operations is Leroy Chiao, formerly a NASA astronaut and Commander of the International Space Station.<br /><br />Advisory Board members include: former Johnson Space Center Director, George Abbey; former Kennedy Space Center Director and former President of Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Jay Honeycutt; former space shuttle</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>