Boulder, Fort Collins firms partnering with NASA

FORT COLLINS and BOULDER — Advanced Space Inc. of Boulder and Colorado Power Electronics Inc. of Fort Collins are among the companies recently selected by NASA to partner with the agency on projects to advance the commercial space sector and support future NASA missions.

Advanced Space “will partner with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to advance lunar navigation technologies,” according to a NASA news release. “The collaboration will help mature a navigation system between Earth and the Moon that could supplement NASA’s Deep Space Network and support future exploration missions.”

Colorado Power Electronics “will partner with [NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland] to mature power processing unit technology that extends the operating range of Hall thrusters, which are primarily used on Earth-orbiting satellites and can also be used for deep space missions,” the release said. “By integrating their technology with NASA and commercial Hall thrusters, the company expects to provide a propulsion system that can significantly increase mission payload or extend mission durations.”

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