Mira LEO Express 1: SpaceX Ex-employee Moves From Rockets To In-space Propulsion

Among the 90 payloads launched during Saturday's SpaceX Transporter-9 'rideshare' mission to low earth orbit(LEO), was the Mira spacecraft from in-space propulsion company, Impulse Space.

The Mira 'LEO Express' mission is Impulse Space's first vehicle test flight. The dishwasher-sized spacecraft weighs 300 kg when fully fueled; and is designed to maximize its delta-V capability, so it is mostly propellant and fuel tanks, and powered by Saiph thrusters that operate at a specific impulse (ISP) of 290.

According to Impulse Space, Mira will perform services in space, including last mile orbital payload distribution, payload storage, very high altitude maneuvers low and controlled re-entry into the atmosphere.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets launch some space vehicles to LEO at low cost for commercial space companies and governments. And if these spacecraft want to reach a different altitude or inclination, they have to bring their own propulsion along for the ride.

Impulse Space is among emerging companies that offer "last mile" services -- small add-on spacecraft capable of providing in-space propulsion. The company is founded two years ago by rocket scientist Tom Mueller, who was a founding employee at SpaceX before leaving in 2020.

At SpaceX, Mueller led the development of the Merlin engines that power the Falcon 9 rocket and oversaw all elements of rocket and spacecraft propulsion. As a vice president and later an advisor, he was able to focus mostly on the technical side rather than the business aspects.

"At SpaceX, I certainly wasn't involved in the fundraising and business side and running a whole company," he said in an interview earlier this year. "So that's been a lot to learn. But I think I’m getting better at that. Certainly, technically, I feel like we're super strong. We have a really great spacecraft."

Mueller said Impulse Space plans to take customers on the next step in in-space propulsion. "SpaceX opened up access to orbit by lowering the cost of access space, and now we want to open up access to more orbits, and higher energy orbits, and going to other bodies in the inner Solar System," he said. "We want to make it cheap and easy to get anywhere in the Solar System."