Costa Rica News – Costa Rican astronaut Franklin Chang and his team synchronized chronometers with NASA for a three year (or 1,095 days) countdown to the final test of the plasma engine before it leaves Earth.
The countdown began on July 1st, after a work schedule was agreed upon between his team and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NASA had previously awarded Ad Astra Rocket $10 million for the final testing.
The goal of this test is to keep the engine continuously running for 100 hours in a vacuum chamber of a laboratory located in Houston, Texas. It will demonstrate the engine’s cooling system.
Getting his engine to Mars is the most well known part about Chang’s mission, but it is not the only idea he is working on.
He is also planning to get into the satellite business, as there are 100,000 satellites around the Earth and many must be recollected, refueled and reconditioned.