These guys all agree: Space Travel needs to be faster and less expensive.
Stellar Electric Propulsion ('StEP') will dramatically increase Spaceflight speeds while reducing Spaceflight costs.
StEP is an advanced Spaceflight Technology that is purely electronic.
It produces thrust without consuming any form of fuel or propellant.
Above: The first StEP prototype that passed all of its Proof-of-Concept tests (it is named '003').
Below: 003, sealed inside a silver gondola, undergoing a mid-air neutral buoyancy flight test.
Gracefully gliding around in the test facility, the flight seems rather ordinary...
However, the success of this flight test represents a World's First achievement.
Note: StEP Technology, the Intellectual Property demonstrated, is secured by Trade Secret protection.
UPDATE: The StEP project has a new member of the Prototype family. Thruster '003a' is smaller, lighter, and more tightly engineered than 003.
Below: 003a, sealed inside a vacuum chamber, undergoing a low-air-pressure thrust test.
This test shows what happens when StEP technology is tested in an environment where a propeller, an air jet, or an atmosphere-ionizing thruster would generate very little usable thrust... or likely none at all!
A successful test result would be a significant leap forward for the StEP project.
Note: StEP Technology, the Intellectual Property demonstrated, is secured by Trade Secret protection.
'Old-school' Space propulsion technologies produce thrust by consuming some sort of propellant (fuel) and, eventually, they deplete it.
Running out of propellant often signals the end of the mission.
Above: A group of hybrid-electric thrusters, all of which require fuel to operate.
A StEP thruster is not a hybrid-electric type. StEP does not rely upon ion or plasma technology to generate thrust.
Unlike those old-school solutions, a Spacecraft equipped with StEP thrusters can continue Spaceflight operations as long as it has access to electric power.
Thanks to the Sun, StEP can get electric power from Photovoltaic Arrays (i.e. Solar Panels).
Wherever they travel, StEP-equipped Spacecraft will be able to use power from the nearest Star to accelerate, decelerate, and change trajectory.
By deleting the mass of fuel and fuel-system hardware from a spacecraft, we can reduce the cost of each rocket launch.
Lower mass means faster acceleration and deceleration in Space.
Those performance improvements result in HIGHER SPEEDS enroute, SHORTER ROUTES through Space, and LESS EXPENSIVE Space Travel.
You can capture Earth-orbiting space junk and recycle it, in order to create brand new construction material.
You can build amazing structures in Space, like large-scale Scientific Space Stations and mind-blowing Space Resorts.
You can intercept and deflect potentially dangerous Earth-crossing objects.
You can remotely survey and mine asteroids, then return a vehicle to Earth carrying a cargo of valuable materials.
Those applications are just a sample of the many benefits to be gained from a purely-electric Spaceflight Technology.
Developed to its full potential, StEP Technology will expand the definition of what is "possible" in Spaceflight.
Want to learn more? A series of 30-second promos were created to give you a glimpse of a StEP-enabled future.
See the detailed version of this page
Funding a Startup Company to develop StEP Technology
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