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Anchorage, Alaska – Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) and Garvey Spacecraft Corporation (GSC) achieved an important milestone in their collaborative venture to path-find operations for a commercial nanosat launch vehicle at AAC’s Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSC-A) on Kodiak Island. Just one month after starting, the team worked through the logistics to enable GSC to ship a prototype first stage and then successfully demonstrate on-site fuel loading into the vehicle.

“To reach our strategic goal of providing commercial cubesat and nanosat launch services, a key step is transitioning our research and development, and test activities to more of an operational mode at a launch range with orbital access,” Chris Bostwick, GSC project manager, said. “AAC has been very responsive in supporting us in this task. Being able to ship our P-19 test vehicle after just a month of preparations and then fuel one day after our team arrived on site is particularly impressive.”

“We are very interested in hosting the small launcher operators who are now coming on-line,” Matt Steele, Vice President of Business Development for AAC, said. “Working with GSC, we have already been able to implement and tailor a number of the logistics, facility, and safety functions that they require.  We look forward to the next phase of development and supporting future GSC operations in Alaska.”

Alaska Aerospace Corporation is a state-owned corporation established to develop a high-technology aerospace industry in Alaska. AAC owns and operates the Pacific Spaceport Complex -Alaska (PSC-A) and is the worldwide distributor for RapidEye multispectral imagery of Alaska. Its corporate offices are in Anchorage, Alaska.

Garvey Spacecraft Corporation is a California-based company that is developing a series of nanosat launch vehicles to provide dedicated launch services to the emerging cubesat and nanosat user communities. Additional partners on this project included the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Flight Works, Inc. and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

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Quelle: AAC