Author Topic: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics  (Read 2615 times)

Offline su27k

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Didn't see a dedicated thread for this company.

Former Momentus CTO reveals competing space logistics venture

Quote from: SpaceNews
TransAstronautica, a startup founded by Joel Sercel, the former Momentus chief technology officer, is raising money for a competing space logistics venture.

TransAstra’s business plan starts with transportation for satellites in orbit and extends to refueling rockets with resources harvested from asteroids.

“We’re going to build the transcontinental railroad of space,” Sercel, the Southern California startup’s founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. “We will make it more affordable to move satellites and payloads from where they are in orbit to where they need to go.”

Related thread in Advanced Concepts section for company's mining method: Concentrated Solar Thermal for Mining & Propulsion
« Last Edit: 08/20/2021 03:01 am by su27k »

Offline electricdawn

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #1 on: 08/19/2021 11:13 am »
I came from this article back to NSF to find your thread.

Some of the stuff they propose truly reads like science fiction. How is that Omnivore engine, which is supposedly taking all kinds of different propellants (even water!), supposed to work? Would be great if it worked, but how? I'm a bit sceptical...
« Last Edit: 08/19/2021 11:16 am by electricdawn »

Offline high road

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #2 on: 08/19/2021 11:29 am »
Heat whatever substance to boiling point and open a valve, from what I read.

Offline electricdawn

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #3 on: 08/19/2021 11:35 am »
Must have pretty bad ISP, and of course what happens with residue from the previous fuel? If they mix, might come to a mighty burp... ;)

Interesting regardless, looking forward to how they will resolve this.

Offline Craftyatom

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #4 on: 08/19/2021 09:44 pm »
Must have pretty bad ISP
With a solar-thermal design, the limiting factors for Isp are 1) the efficiency of your heat transfer system, 2) the lowest thrust you're willing to accept, and 3) the highest temperatures your engine can handle.

1: Pumping more energy into a small mass gives you better Isp, but your pumping system is going to lose some of that energy.  This is only really a problem with "inert" propellants like water, since monopropellants like hydrazine will release their own energy as they decompose.

2: You get the best Isp by heating a small amount of propellant to a very high temperature, but that produces very low thrust (while also exacerbating problem #1).  In theory you can tune your mass flow rate to trade off thrust and Isp, though that's easier said than done.

3: If you could pump your water up to 3000K and 100 bar, you'd have an Isp roughly equivalent to a normal kerolox engine.  But handling high-pressure superheated steam is a pain - especially when you've got a huge heat pumping system that needs to handle those temperatures continuously, while also being as efficient as possible.

My napkin math suggests an Isp of 130-150 isn't too difficult to get out of solar-thermal water.  With a solar collector in LEO the size of JWST's primary mirror, that'd result in an ideal thrust of only 27.1-23.5N; you can see how solar collection area is critical to having reasonable thrust, hence the (I assume) massive reflectors in their renderings.  But that's just water!  Actual chemical monopropellants like hydrazine or hydrogen peroxide could greatly improve these numbers, and using hydrogen or ammonia would significantly reduce the molecular mass of the exhaust, providing much better Isp.

Disclaimer: IANARS, double-check my work, entirely possible I missed things, etc etc.
Interesting regardless, looking forward to how they will resolve this.
Absolutely, this'll be a great project to follow.  I only wish I had access to their numbers.
All aboard the HSF hype train!  Choo Choo!

Offline TrevorMonty

Didn't see a dedicated thread for this company.

Former Momentus CTO reveals competing space logistics venture

Quote from: SpaceNews
TransAstronautica, a startup founded by Joel Sercel, the former Momentus chief technology officer, is raising money for a competing space logistics venture.

TransAstra’s business plan starts with transportation for satellites in orbit and extends to refueling rockets with resources harvested from asteroids.

“We’re going to build the transcontinental railroad of space,” Sercel, the Southern California startup’s founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. “We will make it more affordable to move satellites and payloads from where they are in orbit to where they need to go.”
There is a thread somewhere for them, I've done quite few posts over the years on them.

Here it is under Advanced Concepts

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum%2Enasaspaceflight%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ephp%3Ftopic%3D43614%2E0&share_tid=43614&share_fid=73232&share_type=t&link_source=app

Might be best put link there redirecting to here.

« Last Edit: 08/19/2021 10:49 pm by TrevorMonty »

Offline su27k

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #6 on: 08/25/2021 12:47 pm »
Silicon Valley’s most succesful incubator is doubling down on space tugs

Quote from: qz.com
TransAstra was founded in 2015 with the goal of mining asteroids. Yet harvesting resources out in the solar system, for all its appeal, is still far from feasible. Moving orbiting spacecraft around earth? That is a service companies are willing to pay for, right now.

The trick of space business might be developing a lucrative path to a far-off vision. Elon Musk may want to retire on Mars and SpaceX may enable him to do so, but what’s significant about the firm is that it earns money providing space services in demand right now.

TransAstra founder and CEO Joel Sercel will, in theory, perform a similar sleight of hand: When its first spacecraft, dubbed Worker Bee, reaches orbit in 2023, it will show off a novel thruster technology called solar thermal propulsion, and earn money by precisely positioning satellites launched on larger rockets. And if that succeeds, it will launch a fleet of solar-powered spacecraft into orbit—and perhaps realize a larger vision of harvesting commodities from asteroids.

Offline su27k

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #7 on: 08/14/2022 05:32 am »
TransAstra and Slooh to offer students asteroid detection tool

Quote from: SpaceNews
Space logistics startup TransAstronautica announced a partnership Aug. 9 with online astronomy platform Slooh to offer U.S. schools access to a global network of ground-based and space-based telescopes.

“We will find moving objects in space with a partnership between education, industry and government,” Joel Sercel, TransAstra founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. “For the first time, thousands of amateurs and kids of all stripes will be able to log on to the global network of telescopes that are optimized for finding moving bodies in space.”

Under the agreement, TransAstra and Slooh will work together to install TransAstra’s Sutter telescopes at Slooh and TransAstra observation sites around the world.

Offline su27k

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Re: TransAstronautica (TransAstra) - Space Mining & Logistics
« Reply #8 on: 09/28/2022 03:03 am »
TransAstra and Celestron to modify telescopes for spaceflight

Quote from: SpaceNews
Trans Astronautica Corp. announced an agreement Sept. 27 with telescope manufacturer Celestron to develop a space-qualified version of the company’s Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) ground-based telescope.

“We’ve been using Celestron’s RASA telescopes in our space domain awareness and asteroid prospecting systems, and we found them to be very affordable, high-quality optical systems,” Joel Sercel, TransAstra founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. “We looked at the designs and we realized it would not be that hard to adapt them for space use.”

Over the next year, TransAstra plans to modify the RASA telescope design and substitute materials to produce a telescope that can withstand radiation exposure, temperature swings, and the vibration and shock loads of space launch.

Very interesting to see if they can get significant cost savings by modifying a terrestrial telescope for space use.

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