蜜柚直播

Now the Old Pueblo has two, as Vector鈥檚 new owners recently announced a restart of operations in 蜜柚直播, and Vector鈥檚 former CEO has co-founded a new small-rocket space transportation company here.

And there鈥檚 more to come, including another local startup looking to launch its first ground-imaging satellite in mid-2021.

Last week, the investors who bought Vector鈥檚 rocket-launching assets in a bankruptcy auction said the company will restart operations in the company鈥檚 former quarters near downtown.

Vector, which was developing small rockets designed to carry micro-satellites into orbit, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laid off about 150 employees in December, after a major investor pulled its funding.

The new Vector Launch, led by retired Air Force brigadier general and national security expert Rob Spalding, will stay at its original headquarters at 350 S. Toole Ave., under a new lease with Pima County.

Spalding, acting CEO of Vector Launch, said he came to 蜜柚直播 to close up shop, but an effort by Sun Corridor Inc., convinced the company to stay.

Spalding declined to comment for this column, indicating he鈥檒l be talking more about the company鈥檚 plans down the road.

NEW 鈥淪PACE TRANSPORTATION鈥� FIRM

Meanwhile, Jim Cantrell, co-founder of Vector in 2016, decided to stick around 蜜柚直播 and has quietly started up Phantom Space, a new company planning to provide micro-satellite launch services, as well as small satellites and propulsion systems.

Cantrell, who was an early member of Elon Musk鈥檚 SpaceX team, said he was convinced to start another satellite tech company by Michael D鈥橝ngelo, a former colleague at Vector, after the pair figured they could use the many lessons they took from Vector.

The pair co-founded Phantom Space with Michal Prywata, a biotech business executive who is investor and chief strategy officer for Phantom.

Cantrell said Phantom is taking a broader view of the still-evolving New Space industry, which has been driven by the rapid development of tiny satellites for research and communications.

Rather than create a vertically integrated company that builds everything from the ground up, Phantom is using existing technologies 鈥� notably including proven, off-the-shelf engines for its launch vehicles 鈥� and integrating them into systems to serve its customers.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a space transportation company,鈥� Cantrell said. 鈥淭hinking about the future, we don鈥檛 know what the killer app is. One thing we do know is, people have to send their objects into space and you have to move them around, and sometimes bring them back.鈥�

After setting up a small shop on East Speedway, Phantom is in the process of building four launch vehicles and hopes to launch its first orbital flight in about two years, skipping suborbital test flights, Cantrell said.

The company has hired a dozen people, including some former Vector employees, he said.

Phantom has arranged to use rocket engines made by Colorado-based Ursa Major Technologies to power its first rocket, which at about 4 feet in diameter and roughly 50 feet in length is being designed to carry 450 kilograms, or about 1,000 pounds, into orbit, he said.

OFF-THE-SHELF SPACE TECH

Phantom鈥檚 first rocket will use seven of the Ursa Major engines for liftoff, with one engine for the second stage, Cantrell said, noting that the liquid oxygen and kerosene fueled engines have already been qualified for flight.

In contrast, Vector suffered long delays trying to develop its own engines using propylene fuel based on technology developed by co-founder John Garvey.

The Ursa Major engines will be pump-fed at low pressures, rather than fed from heavy-gauge, high-pressure tanks, saving precious weight, Cantrell said.

He said there are enough suppliers now for engines and other critical components that it makes more sense to buy off-the-shelf.

鈥淔1 (racing teams) don鈥檛 build their own engines, they buy them,鈥� said Cantrell, a longtime auto racer.

Cantrell said Phantom already has submitted a proposal to NASA for its Venture Class Launch Services program, the second round of an initiative launched in 2015 to demonstrate small-sat launch services in an effort to spur the nascent industry.

NASA plans to issue multiple contracts for demonstration launches in the coming months.

Cantrell acknowledged that Vector鈥檚 rebirth means he may someday be competing with a company he founded but there鈥檚 plenty of room for success.

鈥淲hat could be better than if you have two successful rocket companies in 蜜柚直播,鈥� said Cantrell, who was quick to tweet his congratulations and well-wishes to Spalding and the new Vector Launch after the company announced its 蜜柚直播 restart.

BUILDING A SPACE ECOSYSTEM

蜜柚直播 of Vector鈥檚 apparent resurrection was welcomed by local business and tech leaders, especially Stephen Fleming, a University of 蜜柚直播 technology leader who has led the 蜜柚直播 Space Business Roundtable for the past three years.

鈥淚t鈥檚 encouraging, but I鈥檓 encouraged by the whole ecosystem here,鈥� said Fleming, who is director of innovation ecosystem at the UA鈥檚 new Center for Quantum Networks and executive-in-residence at the UA鈥檚 new FORGE business accelerator.

鈥淭here are half a dozen cities in the country that are approaching a critical mass of people who know how to run satellites, who know how to run rockets and those kinds of things, and 蜜柚直播 is one of them,鈥� said Fleming, a longtime technology business consultant who headed Georgia Tech鈥檚 innovation enterprise for more than a decade before coming to the UA.

He cited local companies like 蜜柚直播-based World View Enterprises, which technically doesn鈥檛 go to space but continues to fly its steerable stratospheric balloon vehicles for NASA and other customers as a less costly alternative to satellites for imaging and data gathering.

Local startups like FreeFall Aerospace continues to develop its steerable antenna system for satellites, and LunaSonde, a startup founded by a UA student, is looking to fly its first micro-satellite with a new radar system for imaging underground resources like minerals next year.

MICRO-SAT STARTUP READY TO FLY

LunaSonde founder CEO Jeremiah Pate said the company has a slot to fly its roughly 4-inch cube 鈥減icosatellite鈥� aboard a SpaceX Falcon launch next spring.

The company has a provisional patent on a satellite-based system that uses low-frequency radar to map resources up to 2 kilometers below the surface.

Pate, 22, who got the idea for LunaSonde while still in high school, said the company has been accepted into a virtual accelerator program with the Boston branch of Techstars. Fewer than 1% of applicants are accepted into Techstars, which takes equity stakes in its companies in exchange for guiding them through their early stages.

Pate said he hopes to meet SpaceX founder Musk at some point, adding that the mercurial tech leader and billionaire has been one of his major influences.

鈥淚鈥檓 not an engineer, certainly by training, but I do see the big picture and I see the market need,鈥� said Pate, who quit school to focus on his company but plans to return to the UA and eventually earn a doctorate.