Space company is betting its future on a propellant available everywhere

Founded in 2022 by three former SpaceX engineers, Argo Space is building spacecraft rather than rockets, with a long-term plan for a transportation network linking Earth orbit and the Moon. Its central idea is to use water, which may be available in space and on the Moon, as a propellant as well as a coolant and radiation shield. The company’s Chiron spacecraft carries liquid water, uses solar electricity to separate it into hydrogen and oxygen, then burns those gases in a conventional rocket engine. Argo says a roughly 200-kilogram Chiron can achieve more than 2 kilometers per second of velocity change, enough for substantial orbital transfers or decades of geostationary station-keeping. This approach avoids cryogenic storage while offering more thrust than electric thrusters using comparable power.

Argo’s first demonstration spacecraft made contact after launching in July, but a solar array failed to deploy, leaving the vehicle without enough power to test its propulsion. Two Chiron missions planned for 2027 will try again, demonstrating maneuvers in low-Earth and geostationary transfer orbits. Because Falcon 9 launches are no longer readily available on Argo’s schedule, the first flight will use a new commercial rocket and the second a government-provided vehicle. The company’s larger Argonaut vehicle is designed to carry up to 1,400 kilograms and could deliver a communications satellite to lunar orbit under an agreement with ispace. That ambition is striking for a firm with fewer than 30 employees and $20 million raised, though spacecraft development requires less ground infrastructure than building rockets.