Ad Astra Rocket Company

Ad Astra Rocket Company capitalizes on more than 30 years of NASA R&D on plasma propulsion and diverse technologies with the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR®) engine as its flagship product. Its high-tech facilities are located in the city of Webster, Texas nearby NASA’s JSC Center in Houston with a total area of 24,000ft2, a state-of-the-art machine shop, and a differentially pumped vacuum chamber of 150m3 for space environment testing. Through its international subsidiary in the city of Liberia in the northwestern Costa Rican province of Guanacaste, Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica develops integrated turn-key solutions of distributed renewable energy systems, relevant to many global niche applications i.e. hydrogen energy cycle for production, storage, and use. Seven-time NASA space shuttle astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang Díaz serves as company President and CEO. Dr. Chang Díaz invented the VASIMR® concept and has been working on its development since 1979.