Phantom Space Corporation is an American space transportation and rocket manufacturing startup based in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Company history

Phantom Space Corporation was founded in 2019 by Jim Cantrell and Michael D'Angelo. Chris Thompson, the second employee at SpaceX and ten-year veteran, joined Phantom Space in October of 2021 as Chief Technology Officer in charge of launch and satellite system development. In May 2021, Phantom acquired StratSpace, a satellite program designer and manager founded by Cantrell in 2000. The acquisition made Phantom Space the first 100% U.S.-based satellite supply chain in its effort to mass produce rockets on a large scale. In August 2021, the company acquired space systems developer Micro Aerospace Solutions (MAS) operating out of

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

. In 2023, Phantom signed an agreement with Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) to collaborate on missions at the

Arnhem Space Centre The Arnhem Space Centre is a commercial spaceport near Nhulunbuy, in Arnhem Land, Australia. The facility is owned and operated by Equatorial Launch Australia, both of which were founded by Scott Wallis in 2016. ASC was the location of NASA' ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

, a remote location in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia. Phantom has links to the US

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

, and an ELA spokesperson said that the launch site could one day be used for missile testing and development. Phantom hoped to fire rockets from the ASC site by 2025. While the main focus is on commercial uses at the site, the potential for involvement in defense has raised concerns among the local community.

Daytona I

the company is building a two-stage rocket called Daytona. As designed, the vehicle will be 18 meters tall, 1.5 meters in diameter. It will be able to loft 180 kilograms to low Earth orbit for a claimed launch price of $4 million. It will use nine Hadley engines produced by

Ursa Major Technologies Ursa Major Technologies is an American aerospace company founded in 2015 and based in Berthoud, Colorado. The company produces rocket engines and sells them to space launch and hypersonics companies, and the U.S. Government. The company makes a ...

on its first stage, and one Hadley Vacuum engine on its second stage. The first launch is projected to take place in late 2026 – early 2027.

Launch plans

Daytona II

Daytona II is an upgraded version of the Daytona I rocket, It will use one Ripley engine on the first stage and one vacuum-optimized Hadley engine on the second stage, the rocket will be capable of delivering 440 kg to LEO and has been advertised at 4 million USD per launch. launches are planned to start in 2027.

Daytona III

Daytona III is the third upgrade of the Daytona rocket, the first stage has a second Ripley engine and the second stage has one vacuum-optimized Hadley engine. The second stage will be capable of delivering 950 kg to LEO, the maiden launch is planned for 2028.

References

External links

Official Website
{{US launch systems Aerospace companies of the United States Private spaceflight companies Companies based in Tucson, Arizona