Cryogenic Orbital Propellant Depot
Spargo's planned orbital depot holding about 2,000 kg of liquid oxygen with liquid methane or liquid hydrogen, for refueling tugs, transfer stages and landers.
Why it matters
The next generation of space tugs and lunar landers burns cryogenic propellants. A depot they could top up from would let them fly longer and farther instead of being thrown away when the tank runs dry.
How the technology works
The depot is designed for zero-boiloff storage and to connect through standard docking interfaces. Docking is guided by Spargo's VERA software, where a vision-language model gives advice to a conventional guidance and control system that keeps full authority.
Work to date is ground validation and thermal modeling.
Sources
Updated Oct 22, 2026 · How we source facts · Suggest a correction