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Former Astronaut Chang Said Costa Rican
Should Insert Itself In Aerospace
Development.
Costa Rica's own former NASA astronaut,
Franklin Chang-Diaz, feels that Costa Rican
businesses should take advantage of the
aerospace technology that is ripe for local
businesses to be involved in a field with
enormous possibilities.
Chang said that now is the time to take
advantage of the success of the plasma
engine that was developed in Costa Rica at
his AdAstra laboratory in Liberia and soon
will be launched into space.
The former astronaut is urging Costa Rican
entrepreneurs to take advantage of the
results of his experiments that soon will be
tested in space.
The revolutionary plasma rocket engine is
expected to eventually be cheaper to operate
that conventional models and reduce travel
time for space missions.
Chang's hopes that the plasma engine will
boost commercial aircraft into higher
orbits, stabilize space stations and then
power the trip to Mars.
The engine works by stripping electrons from
hydrogen atoms and accelerating the
resulting plasma in an electric field.
Expelling the plasma out of the back of the
engine generates thrust. The technique is
known as Variable Specific-Impulse
Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) technology,
and was conceived in the 1970s.
The possibilities of the project for Costa
Rican companies are endless. One of those
businesses, said Chang, would be maintenance
of the space station and the hundreds of
satellites currently orbiting the earth.
For Chang, now is the time for Costa Rica to
insert itself in the business that is at a
crucial stage of aerospace development.
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