Welcoming New Team Members – July 2023
As we identify our long-term needs and prepare for further growth in the future, Advanced Space continues to add more new members to our team to help us reach those goals. These professionals will help us develop and improve leadership and administrative capabilities needed to meet the demands of our expanding programs and projects. (more…)
Advanced Space Commemorates One Year Since CAPSTONE Separation
It’s been one year since CAPSTONE separated from its launch vehicle to become the first commercial spacecraft operating at the Moon. Advanced Space is grateful to our team members and proud of all their accomplishments! (more…)
Mission to Mars: Advanced Space Technology Enabling 2024 ESCAPADE Mission
Mission in Partnership with University of California Berkeley Space Science Lab and NASA to Launch on Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket
Westminster, CO – Advanced Space, a leading space tech solutions company, is supporting the University of California Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) by creating technology that enables deep space and planetary exploration, in particular Mars. NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission management and operations will be led by the University of California Berkeley. (more…)
Encelascope – A Feasibility Study with ASTROBi Foundation
Advanced Space doesn’t just have a spacecraft flying at the Moon: we also investigate missions to deep space.
Last year, we conducted a feasibility study for a local non-profit organization (ASTROBi Foundation) that investigated the functions, cost, and complexity of three major components for a low-cost mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus: (1) the entire trajectory set for a spacecraft to follow, (2) the navigation architecture, including both in-space and ground-based navigation, and (3) a low-cost ground system to support the mission. The mission’s science goal is to determine if biological signatures of life exist there. The spacecraft, named Encelascope, would collect its data by flying through the plumes that are erupting from the “Tiger Stripes” that appear on Enceladus’ southern latitudes. The Tiger Stripes are long depressions that have been observed to be spewing a stream of tiny particles into space, apparently from an underground ocean. A liquid ocean is a tantalizing location to probe for signatures of life. The science would require that the spacecraft pass through the Tiger Stripes’ plumes as low as possible, down to 1-20 kilometers above Enceladus’s surface, and the science phase would last approximately one year. (more…)
Advanced Space Team Visits NASA Goddard to Share Progress, Future Opportunities
Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham and two team members of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) team, Alec Forsman, Mission Operations Lead and Ethan Kayser, Mission Design Lead, returned to the place where it all began—NASA Goddard Space Flight Center—to share lessons learned from the successful ongoing mission. (more…)
Team Highlight – Alec Forsman
What has been your favorite project at Advanced Space and why?
Hands down, it has been CAPSTONE. It has just been such a unique and exciting experience being able to work on developing the mission from a concept into an operational spacecraft at the Moon. The experience has given me the opportunity to work with incredible engineers and learn so many new things. Another aspect that makes CAPSTONE so interesting for me is the development of the onboard CAPS technology. It’s been so rewarding being able to work on a technology that started out as just a Phase I SBIR concept back in 2017 and matured into something we’ve been able to demonstrate successfully at the Moon 6 years later!
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Space Resources Roundtable 2023
On June 6, Thomas Gardner, Advanced Space’s Director of Engineering, gave a presentation on the recently extended CAPSTONE mission as part of the Colorado School of Mines’ Space Resources Roundtable (SRR). He also discussed some of the future technologies we are supporting for future lunar resource development. Gardner explained, “We support [the Roundtable] because it’s the future – commercial exploration and development of space resources at the Moon and within the solar system in support of the exploration, development and settlement of space. Advanced Space was built to be a part of that.” (more…)
Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham visits Morehead State University’s Space Science Director and Congressional Staff to Discuss Future
Advanced Space’s CEO Bradley Cheetham paid a visit to Morehead State University (MSU) in Kentucky today. Cheetham toured the Space Science Center, along with staff members for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Congressman Hal Rogers. While there, the group discussed the successful Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) mission, along with potential future collaborations with MSU. (more…)
Advanced Space successfully completes 6-month CAPSTONE primary mission at the Moon for NASA
Enhanced Mission to continue testing near-lunar communication and navigation technologies for months to come.
Advanced Space’s pioneering commercial satellite has completed its primary 6-month mission operating in the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) that will be utilized by the Gateway lunar space station. CAPSTONE’s enhanced mission will continue to focus on demonstrating lunar operations and navigation technology. To mark the end of the Primary Mission, Advanced Space is providing an update on the mission’s accomplishments. While the completion of the Primary Mission is a significant milestone, the CAPSTONE mission is not complete. The mission team, led by Advanced Space, is now planning and preparing to execute the “Enhanced Mission” phase, which will extend the CAPSTONE spacecraft’s time in the NRHO up to 12 months. (more…)