NASA Advanced Space Transportation Program

The Advanced Space Transportation Program ( ASTP ), (Eng. about Advanced Space Transportation Program ) is a research and development program of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA.

At the Marshall Space Flight Center will be the next generation of aerospace and propulsion systems for manned and unmanned missions developed. Research interests are in the areas of: scramjet, PDE, ion propulsion, antimatter drives, boot support by Magnetic Levitation (English: magnetic levitation launch assist), Space Tether and others. Also technologies for space tourism and asteroid mining can be designed.

Until 2002, the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project was held as part of the ASTP.