Tucson-based startup Phantom Space wins satellite mission orders from NASA
Tucson-based commercial rocket builder Phantom Space Corp. will be sending four NASA satellites into space as part of a program meant to help develop new launch vehicles.
Phantom Space will send up NASA’s CubeSat satellites on the company’s two-stage Daytona rocket, with the initial space flights planned for 2024. Two of the CubeSats will be launched on the second Phantom flight and two more will be on the fourth, with both flights starting from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California.
The Arizona startup, which was founded in 2020, heralded the deal as a significant step for itself and its sector.
The task orders are part of a NASA program that directs what are called Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare, or VADR, missions. The VADR program has multiple objectives, including fostering the development of new launch vehicles from emerging and established providers as well as reducing costs by using less NASA oversight with payloads that can accept a higher risk tolerance.
“The new contracts will help us launch a Golden Age of commercial space, and it’s an honor to have NASA onboard — their leadership is invaluable to the space industry, and we are proud to help their programs expand humanity’s knowledge of our planet, solar system, and beyond,” said Mark Lester, Phantom Space chief operating officer and VADR program manager for the company, in a statement.
Lester said the deal with NASA will help his company increase the market for private space companies.
“The more spacecraft we put up into space, the further we can reduce costs and expand access to space for businesses and nations that couldn’t afford it before,” he said in the statement. “There’s a whole new space race going on here, and we’re inspired to be part of it.”
Phantom conducts ‘hot-fire’ test
NASA selected Phantom Space along with 12 other companies earlier this year to launch VADR missions, and the four CubeSat task orders are Phantom’s first winning bids.
The amount of the four orders with Phantom Space was not disclosed, but VADR selection announcement earlier this year said fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts have a five-year ordering period with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts.
Phantom recently announced that development of its Daytona rocket achieved a major milestone with a successful 60-second hot-fire test on Nov. 14 that validated elements of the first and second stages. The company has previously said it planned to launch orbital flight by the end of 2023.
The rocket uses engines built by Colorado company Ursa Major. The two companies struck a deal in the spring that called for the purchase of hundreds of Ursa Major Technologies’ 5,000-pound thrust Hadley engines in different configurations for test launches of Phantom Space’s Daytona rocket. Phantom Space will also buy “numerous” 50,000-pound thrust Ripley engines from Ursa Major for planned upgrades to the Daytona.
Phantom was co-founded by Jim Cantrell — who was previously the first vice president of business development at SpaceX and who also worked at the French Space Agency and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Cantrell previously told AZ Inno that he hopes to change the way businesses get into space by providing reliable transportation.
The company has said it plans to be able to carry 450 kilograms of payload into low earth orbit for less than $4 million. The company also aims to build its own vehicle and satellite systems with the aim of opening up a cost-effective all-in-one option for governments and commercial entities to get assets into space and stimulate the space economy.