Company Updates 2024:
At ASX Space, we take pride in the work that we do in the company and strive for success in the industry, today we bring somewhat of a big press release to show you. So without further ado, lets dive in. Feel free to ask questions below.
Newly Designed Archmage
In 2025, we will debut our redesigned Archmage from FIS Sounding Pad 1, this vehicle is basically a better version than the previous version that we showed before. Archmage is now capable of 13,000kg to Low-Droo Orbit and 6,000kg to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit which is a massive improvement to our rocket which was capable of 1,500kg to LDO, 1,300kg to SSO and 1,000kg to Polar Orbit. It is also capable of flying 4,500kg of payload to a Sun Synchronous Orbit, 5,500kg to Polar Orbit and 5,160kg to Medium Droo Orbit, all for the low price of $17.7M The vehicle uses new engines that we name Atlantic Engine (or AE for short), the vehicle uses 9 AE-1 engines that have 206kn of thrust each and an ISP of 265s at SL, in the future, the engine will have an upgrade and will be called AE-1E which will see the improvement of the ISP at SL, Archmage is 3.2m wide and 55.2m tall, these new upgrades allow us to fly bigger and heavier satellites on the rocket.
(Fairing Specifcations)
(Archmage Specifications)
(Archmage flying to orbit)
(Bottom View of Archmage)
In addition to that, Archmage's second stage was recently fitted with multi-directional RCS Thrusters to aid in the correction of the the second stages direction and will also aid in deorbiting it after each mission, including additional COPV's and lights that were added to the second stage.
RCS demostration
Archmage Second stage in orbit
Archmage Heavy
ASX will attempt an industry first in the Junoverse, which will see the company make a Tri-Core version of Archmage which will see 2 Archmage first stage, fitted as side boosters to make a Heavy-Lift launch vehicle. Not only will this be the first Tri-Core rocket to attempt flight, but this will be the first one of its kind to ever enter service since I-Space in 2021, who attempted to make a Tri-Core vehicle of their own, but didn't prevail to service. Archmage Heavy will have 3 times the thrust and 3 times the payload, it will make its debut possibly between September 2025-October 2025. The launch vehicle will be able to fill the gap for customers who want to launch heavier payloads to orbits and possibly interstellar travel.
Archmage Heavy is composed of three Archmage nine-engine cores whose 27 AE-1 engines together generate more than 5,568kn at liftoff which is 3 times the power than that of the default Archmage which generates 1,856kn of thrust, Archmage Heavy can lift nearly 39,000kg (39t) to Low-Droo Orbit and 18,000kg (18t) to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit.
Three cores make up the first stage of Archmage Heavy. The side cores, or boosters, are connected on the nosecone, the interstage, and on the Side Seperator. Shortly after liftoff the center core engines are throttled down, after the side cores separate, the center core engines throttle back up to full thrust, Archmage Heavy's first stage incorporates 27 AE-1 engines across three aluminum-lithium alloy rocket cores containing Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Liquid Methane (CH4) in a mix called Methalox.
(Bottom View of Archmage Heavy).
The rocket is equipped with 4 ring tall interstage structure that connects the center core on the first stage and second stages and holds the release and separation system.
(Stage Seperation)
Side Boosters seperating from the core
Archmage Heavy draws upon Archmage’s proven design, which minimizes stage separation events and maximizes reliability. The second-stage AE Vac Engine delivers the rocket’s payload to orbit after the main engines cut off and the first-stage cores separate, with the second stage fairing made of a carbon composite material, the fairing protects satellites on their way to orbit.
(Second Stage)
(Archmage Heavy lifting off from the Freidonia Interplanetary Spaceport)
Speaking about the Freidonia Interplanetary Spaceport, we leased 2 pads from the center recently, LC-3A and Sounding Pad 1, Sounding Pad 1 will be used for Archmage while the LC-3A will be configured to fly for Archmage Heavy although we do plan to fly Archmage from there as well.
Aerial View of LC-3A
Other Plans
Not only do we plan on debuting 2 rockets, but we also have other big plans for the company, keep in mind that we are still considering them but if they do end up coming to life, we will let you know!
New Vehicles
ASX not only plans to debut Archmage, but we also plan on debuting a new vehicle that will possibly have many variants to suit mission requirements, while the name has not been decided yet, we do plan on what the variants will be. There will be a light version where it could be equipped with small side boosters, it will have either 0, 2 or 4 sides, while the heavy version will have bigger side boosters and have the same configuration. However, thats not the only thing, the light and heavy versions can be fitted with a small hydrogen kick stage that can act as a 3rd stage for both rockets, while the Heavy version can be equipped with a bigger hydrogen stage, basically a Long March 7A type vehicle, but that version will use 4 side boosters to lift the whole rocket. This new vehicle was the originally planned rocket for the company but was kept on paper until now, it will possibly make its debut in Q2 2026. The design will be revealed very soon in the next company update
Satellites
While we aren't a satellite manufacturer company, we do plan on a couple satellites, we plan on doing 3, one for planet observation, one for telecommunications and one for recon missions. Once again, no names have been decided, and while we do plan on launching them on Archmage and eventually on our new rocket, we will give other companies a chance to launch them. We will contract Hazrat with this task, the first 2 satellites will fly on a launcher we've yet to pick and are currently looking at the options
Kick Stage
Speaking about kick stages for our next rocket, we also plan on doing a kick stage of our own to increase payload to higher energy orbits and enable multiple ignition missions. Particularly, allows direct injection to SSO orbits and to deliver multiple payloads to different orbits. It will use LOX/Ethanol as it's propellant to increase its ISP instead of using traditional hydrazine or UDMH, making it different from other kick stages that are currently being made by other launch providers. It will debut in August 2025
Lunar Lander
Here's the exciting part now, yes, we will officially be starting a lunar program, similar to the Chang'e program. ASX plans on doing 10 missions to Luna, fortunately we have a name for the lander, its name is Natsukashii, which in Japanese means "nostalgic", and in this case, ASX would want to hold memory of the accomplishments that the company aims to do which is retriving samples and return them to earth, among many other things that will never be forgotten in history. The plans for the Natsukashii lunar program has not yet been finalized, it will be shared once we have an idea of what we want to do
Exploring Sergeaa
When we explore, we don't stop, ASX also plans on exploring Sergeaa, the sibling of Droo who's a perfect example of when a planet gets too close to a star, which is why ASX plans on exploring the surface of Sergeaa with just a lander and a camera, more details to be shared soon.
Capsule Missions
If the lunar lander plans weren't exciting enough, we also plan on flying crew in the future, to space stations and possibly to Luna in the near future. The capsule will be transport both crew and cargo all in one go, unfortunately the capsule will be too big for Archmage to fly which is why it will fly on our next rocket in a 4 side booster configuration. More details about will come soon.
And thats about it, if you have any questions, send them down below. Have a good Monday