WASHINGTON — Impulse Space plans to fly an upgraded version of its Mira orbital transfer vehicle later this year with increased performance and capabilities to operate in geostationary orbit.
The company announced Aug. 6 that the new version of Mira will fly later this year on its LEO Express 3 mission. It follows flights of the earlier version of Mira on the LEO Express 1 mission in November 2023 and LEO Express 2 in January.
While this next Mira mission will also be going to low Earth orbit, the vehicle includes upgrades to enable operations on future missions in higher orbits, including GEO. That includes radiation-tolerant avionics, upgraded radios and antennas and onboard reaction wheels.
The vehicle has new solar arrays that can produce more than double the power of the earlier version of Mira. Upgrades to spacecraft thrusters and a larger propellant tank offer a 25% increase in delta-V, or change in velocity. Mira can provide 900 meters per second of delta-V when carrying 100 kilograms of payload.
Other changes include upgraded software and adherence to cybersecurity standards, as well as a redesigned payload bay to maximize the payload volume available to customers.
“This upgraded Mira extends our core capabilities into higher orbits, with the same emphasis on responsiveness, maneuverability and precision,” Drew Damon, vice president of spacecraft programs at Impulse Space, in a statement. He noted the first upgraded Mira has been completed and tested, with customer payloads installed.
The company will use the new version of Mira on two missions for the U.S. Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space program, called Victus Surgo and Victus Salo. The former mission involves using the company’s larger Helios vehicle in development to deliver Mira to GEO, where it will operate a commercial optical payload. The latter mission will operate in LEO, carrying a payload from MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
“With its first two missions, Mira has already proven to be a strong step in the right direction and we’re confident that this updated design will further accelerate opportunities across the commercial, civil and defense sectors,” Tom Mueller, founder and chief executive of Impulse Space, in the statement.
Impulse Space added that the new Mira design supports higher production rates of the vehicle. The company raised a $300 million Series C round in June that it will use, in part, for increasing production of both Mira and Helios.