Three former SpaceX engineers have founded Argo Space to develop spacecraft that use water for propulsion, cooling, and radiation shielding. The company aims to create a transportation network linking low-Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, and the Moon, but its first demonstration mission, Navigator, encountered a power failure before it could test its propulsion system.
Robert, Ryan, and Kirby Carlisle worked at SpaceX during the Falcon 9 era, observing the transformation of the global launch industry from inside the company.
The brothers launched, modified, and sold rockets. When they eventually left SpaceX to start their own space company—a lifelong ambition—they decided not to build rockets. Instead, they focused on spacecraft.
In late 2022, the Carlisle family founded Argo Space to develop infrastructure in space. Their vision is to reduce the need to launch propellant from Earth, both for travel through the atmosphere and for transportation in space. They selected water as their propulsion method because it exists throughout the solar system and could potentially be harvested from the Moon.
“We founded a company based on water,” Robert Carlyle said in an interview.
Access to water is central to the company’s plan for a transportation network connecting low-Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, and the Moon. Such a network could support relatively affordable logistics services, including satellite replenishment, refueling, repair, and redeployment.
In Argo’s concept, water would serve purposes beyond propulsion. It would also act as a coolant and radiation shield. Much of the spacecraft, including its thrusters and avionics, would be cooled by water. The company says this could increase the spacecraft’s propellant mass fraction, allowing more of its mass to be dedicated to propellant and enabling it to travel farther and perform more tasks.
“In the long run, this waterborne transportation will provide a commercial incentive, a profit motive to go and extract from shallow gravity wells on the Moon,” Robert Carlyle said.
When even former SpaceX users can’t find their Falcon 9
Argo Space flew its first demonstration mission, Navigator, as part of a Falcon 9 rideshare in July. The company successfully established contact with the spacecraft, but one of its two deployed solar arrays failed.
Controllers spent approximately half a day troubleshooting the issue and collecting data about the spacecraft’s condition. However, the spacecraft’s power level remained negative, and its batteries were depleted. As a result, there was not enough energy to test its propulsion system.
Source: arstechnica.com
