NASA taps Inversion to advance aerocapture for interplanetary missions

NASA awarded a contract to California startup Inversion to study and demonstrate aerocapture, a technique that uses a planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft into orbit without heavy propellant use. Inversion will work on mission design, aerodynamics, trajectory analysis and vehicle definition based on its Arc reentry craft.

• Inversion was founded by former SpaceX and ABL Space engineers
• Arc uses chemical thrusters, cold gas jets and aerodynamic flaps
• The first aerocapture demonstration is planned at Earth
• The company launched its first prototype, Ray, four years after founding