The VASIMR plasma engine, developed by Franklin Chang-Díaz, has received praise from the Spanish astrophysicist known as Doctor Fisión. With a significant online following, Doctor Fisión shared his opinion on the project during a recent live broadcast after being asked about the Costa Rican physicist’s work.
“This type of engine will be the future. This one in particular, which is a VASIMR-type engine, I didn’t know about. It looks very promising and it’s also a project from Latin America, since it’s led by a Costa Rican physicist—so my congratulations,” said Doctor Fisión.
He further defended Chang-Díaz in video comments against negative messages, highlighting the technological maturity of the project: “Recent contracts with NASA indicate that the technology is already ‘mature’ —it has a TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of 5 or 6— which is the step before building the final flight model.”
The segment of his broadcast received numerous positive responses, mainly from Costa Ricans expressing pride and informing Doctor Fisión that Chang-Díaz was also an important astronaut for NASA. Comments included statements such as: “I adore Franklin; he is my inspiration,” “We are proud of Franklin,” and “He is probably the most notable Costa Rican of all time in any field.”
Doctor Fisión studied physics and astrophysics and has built a large social media presence through science communication in recent years.
