Nova | AstroForge Autonomy-1 (Demo Flight)

AstroForge Autonomy-1 (Demo Flight)

First launch of Stoke Space’s Nova launch vehicle. Asteroid mining technologies company AstroForge's Autonomy-1 will fly on this launch. Autonomy-1 will be the first full-scale flight demonstration of AstroForge's own spacecraft artificial intelligence model, Solo. The spacecraft will be tested for functionality in orbit without being commanded from the ground, and will transmit telemetry and science data back to Earth without human interference, including from COMPASS, a heliophysics science payload from NASA Goddard.

Nova

Stoke Space’s Nova launch vehicle is a planned fully reusable 2-stage rocket. The 1st stage uses 7 Zenith Full-flow staged-combustion (FFSC) engines using Liquified natural gas/liquid oxygen (LNG/LOX)​ as fuel, with restartable capability and landing legs for landing. The 2nd stage is unconventionally designed around a 24-thrust chamber liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) expander cycle rocket engine that surrounds a regeneratively cooled heat shield, thus enabling the upper stage to return to Earth from orbit without thermal tiles. The nozzle accommodates deep throttle operation even in the presence of atmospheric pressure and serves as an actively cooled metallic heat shield during atmospheric reentry. There is also a center passive bleed that aims to create an aerospike engine-like effect for improved efficiency.

Length

40.2 m

Diameter

4.2 m

Launch Mass

227 t