Evolution Space is an American

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet U ...

aerospace company providing solid propulsion systems and small launch. The company is run by CEO and founder Steve Heller, and is currently based in Mojave, California.

History

Founded in 2018, the company began under the brand name Sugarhouse Aerospace with cofounders Steve Heller and Riley Meik. The initial mission of the company was to be a provider of low cost access to space and suborbital launch with commercial launches from

Spaceport America Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and southeast of Truth or Consequences. Wit ...

. In 2021, the company rebranded to Evolution Space under CEO and founder Steve Heller, with its first launch as Evolution Space in November of 2021. Evolution Space performed their first successful

space launch Space launch is the earliest part of a flight that reaches space. Space launch involves liftoff, when a rocket or other space launch vehicle leaves the ground, floating ship or midair aircraft at the start of a flight. Liftoff is of two main ...

passing the

Kármán line The Kármán line (or von Kármán line ) is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, and offers a specific definition set by the Fédération aéronautique internationale (FAI), an international record-keeping ...

on April 22, 2023 with the Gold Chain Cowboy

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

Propulsion

Evolution Space specializes in designing and manufacturing

solid-propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...

systems and launch vehicles for both defense and space applications. In October 2022, Evolution Space performed a launch vehicle system test of their propulsion system for the Gold Chain Cowboy mission. The motor performed with 20,000 pounds of peak thrust, a maximum chamber pressure of 1,630 psi and achieved 15 seconds burn time. In May 2023, Evolution Space formally includes providing solid propulsion systems along-side launch services and vehicles. The company conducted their first commercial spaceflight partnership as a propulsion provider with The Spaceport Company, as they performed test launches on their floating offshore launch platform in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

. This test also marked the first commercial launch from US territorial waters.

Launch

Evolution Space held its first full-scale solid-propellant rocket mission, Too Busy Chasing Stars, in November 2021, reaching a max altitude of 188,444 feet with a max velocity of Mach 3.95. The company conducted two sub-scale missions, No More Questions in May 2022, and Expressionless in February 2023, validating its upgraded systems and solutions. Evolution Space completed its first space mission, Gold Chain Cowboy, on April 22, 2023, reaching apogee at 408,456 feet (124.5 km) and reached a max speed of Mach 5.2. The test launch included a payload from Uplift Aerospace of two 3D printed silver figurines, representing Venus and Mars, created by artist Chad Knight. A

drogue parachute A drogue parachute is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly-moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. ...

anomaly was reported resulting in a higher than expected landing velocity.

References

{{reflist Rocket engine manufacturers of the United States Private spaceflight companies Aerospace companies of the United States American companies established in 2018 Manufacturing companies based in California