The story
Founded by Franklin Chang-Díaz in 2005.1
The VASIMR is an advanced rocket design that uses plasma for rocket propulsion. Chang-Díaz conceived the VASIMR in 1979, shortly following his graduate research in fusion and plasma-based rocket propulsion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After being selected as an astronaut in 1980, Chang-Díaz served on seven different shuttle missions, a space record that he shares with astronaut Jerry L. Ross. After retiring in 2005 from NASA, Chang-Díaz formed Ad Astra Rocket Company to develop and commercialize the VASIMR technology.
Ad Astra completed a formal Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on the VF-200 engine with NASA in June 2013. This was the first design milestone on the path to flying a VF-200 on the ISS.
August 1st, 2024: NASA recently delivered $10 million in funding to Ad Astra Rocket Company of Texas for further development of its Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an electromagnetic thruster capable of propelling a spaceship to Mars in just 39 days.
NASA's funding was part of the "12 Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnership." Ad Astra's rocket will travel ten times quicker than chemical rockets while using one-tenth the amount of fuel.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ad Astra Rocket Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4