Skip to content
Navigating a New Political Landscape: View real-time updates about the impact of and Northeastern's response to recent political changes.
Apply
Stories

The end of an era

People in this story

Aerospace America, October 2024

Gary Calnan traveled to the White House in 2022 with a proposal to melt parts of the International Space Station down into rocket fuel. His firm, CisLunar Industries of Colorado, was developing technology to recycle and reuse machinery in orbit, and the National Space Council and the Office of Science, Technology and Policy were interested to hear more.

The company had previously published a white paper with several other companies — including Astroscale, a Japan-based debris removal company — describing how radiators, solar panels and batteries could be reused and how other parts of the station could be turned into an orbital salvage yard. For example, CisLunar was developing technology in partnership with the Australian company Neumann Space that could melt metal structures in orbit into rods of aluminum that could serve as fuel for electric propulsion, a concept that the U.S. Space Force awarded Cislunar a $1.7 million contract last year to explore.

Read more on Aerospace America.

More Stories

Trump signing executive orders enacting Project 2025 plans.

Donald Trump shunned Project 2025 as a candidate, but is adopting its ideas in office

02.07.2025
A pile of pennies.

Trump says he has directed US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost

02.07.2025
A pile of pennies

Is the Penny Going Away? Trump Orders Halt on Production

02.10.25
All Stories