GoKawiilArgo Space, founded by ex-SpaceX engineers, builds water-propelled spacecraft
Argo Space, started in late 2022 by former SpaceX engineers Robert, Ryan, and Kirby Carlisle, is developing spacecraft that use water as propellant, coolant, and radiation shield instead of traditional rocket fuel. The company launched its first demonstration mission, Navigator, in July aboard a Falcon 9 rideshare, successfully contacting the spacecraft though one of its two solar arrays failed to deploy.
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Water's abundance across the Solar System, including potential lunar deposits, could make it a cheaper and more accessible propellant than conventional options shipped from Earth, according to the founders. Robert Carlisle suggests this approach could eventually create a commercial incentive to harvest water from the Moon, though that vision depends on the broader water-based transportation network succeeding first. The partial solar array failure on its debut mission highlights the technical risks still facing the young company.
- Argo Space was founded in 2022 by three brothers who previously worked at SpaceX.
- The company uses water as propellant, coolant, and radiation shielding for its spacecraft.
- Its first demonstration mission, Navigator, launched in July but experienced a solar array deployment failure.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-11-03
Published there as: “This space company is betting its future on a propellant available everywhere”
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