Vast startup, which announced last year that it would build a large space station on which it would create artificial gravity with the help of rotation, bought the Launcher company. The last one is known as the developer of the Orbiter space tug.
Vast bought the developer of space tugs
Representatives of Vast, a company engaged in the development of the space station, announced on February 21 the purchase of Launcher. The last one provides services for the launch and placement of commercial cargo in Earth orbit. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
Both companies are located in Southern California and will soon move to the same facility. Launcher is known primarily as the developers of the space tug for Orbiter satellites. Last year, it was successfully launched into space as part of the Transporter-6 mission. But the inability to deploy the GPS antenna does not allow the spacecraft to orient itself correctly and start producing energy to execute the program.
Despite this, Vast founder Jed McCaleb is shocked by what they have done with a very small team. According to him, negotiations on the purchase began 9 months ago and ended only now.
Now it is expected that 80 members of the Launcher team will join 40 working at Vast, and their founder and head of the first company Max Haot will lead them. By the end of the year, it is planned to launch two more spacecraft similar to the first Orbiter.
Construction of a space station
But Vast is most likely more interesting than the continuation of another project started by Launcher – the development of the E-2 engine. According to the statements of representatives of the companies, today it is the most powerful kerosene rocket engine in the United States.
Vast became known in September last year, when its founder Jed McCaleb announced that the company would build a large space station on which artificial gravity would be created with the help of rotation.
Such projects have existed for several decades, but even the space agencies of large countries have not yet taken up their implementation. Therefore, it is very strange that this task was set by McCaleb, who became a billionaire thanks to operations with cryptocurrency and had not been engaged in space until now.
However, Vast, funded by him out of his own pocket, is already conducting research in the field of life support systems and engines for station orientation. So, Launcher developments can really come in handy for them.
According to spacenews.com
Follow us on Twitter to get the most interesting space news in time
https://twitter.com/ust_magazine
