The ability to travel to Mars in 39 days was a notion deemed unrealistic. But Sibo Energy Edgar Ugalde’s ’01 startup solar energy company, assisted NASA and Ad Astra Rocket Company in the development of new type of engine designed to do just that.

The plasma propulsion engine, which uses a thrust from a quasi-neutral plasma, would allow for manned travel to Mars in a little more than one month instead of nine.

The engine could be one of the most important technological milestones in the history of space travel, and Ugalde’s company, based out of his native Costa Rica, was responsible for integrating solar into Ad Astra’s facilities and executing all of the solar engineering for the project.

Ad Astra is based out of Houston and has been developing the engine in both Houston and Costa Rica. The project is funded by NASA and private investors and has been followed by major news outlets including The Daily Mail and Huffington Post. The solar photovoltaic project concluded just last week.

Sibo also contributed to creating a financial model for future projects.

“The solar photovoltaic system installed will allow them to run tests more frequently — accelerating the development of the engine,” Ugalde said.

The relationship with Ad Astra started over two years ago at a trade fair where the rocket company was very interested in Sibo Energy’s solar engineering. Ad Astra has a close relationship with NASA, and from there the joint project to create the plasma propulsion engine began.

“It’s unbelievable for me,” Ugalde said. “Right now you can’t hold that much fuel in space. The plasma propulsion engine makes space exploration easier. It heats elements in space to 1 million degrees Celsius. No material on earth can withstand that temperature.”

The electromagnetic field created is not the typical use of solar energy and consumes a very large amount of power. The engineering for this project was more complicated than others.

The project is not the biggest Sibo Energy has taken on, but Ugalde feels this one in particular will make a big impact on the solar industry of Costa Rica.

“It’s a tremendous experience to make an impact,” Ugalde said. “It goes beyond our border to impact and change something much bigger.”

The idea for Sibo Energy began with Ugalde’s desire to close barriers in the country and help people become more sustainable. His goal was to bring clean energy to schools, organizations and homeowners.

In 2013, the company was named the most innovative startup in Costa Rica.

“When people see solar they become aware,” Ugalde said. “We’re the only company helping people go solar with no money down. Engineering would not help in a developing country, Costa Ricans could not afford solar [before us].”

When his daughter was born in 2010, it catalyzed his desire to continue making strides with solar energy and engineering.

“There is not enough sustainability,” he said. “We have to do more.”

Ugalde was a business major at Elon and had never considered starting his own business. In Costa Rica, entrepreneurship is not as praised as it is in the United States.

It wasn’t until Ugalde enrolled in Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Barth Strempek’s entrepreneurship class that his mindset changed.

“Edgar is one of those students who extracted maximum benefit from his time at Elon,” Strempek said. “In the classroom he was always engaged and curious about how to apply the concepts we were covering. I am not surprised that he has been successful in his entrepreneurial endeavors.”

Before starting Sibo Energy, Ugalde worked in different multinational organizations, but always had an interest and focus on sustainability.

“My parents were very, very worried when I said I wanted to do a startup,” Ugalde said. “Developing countries are different than the United States. My sister has a great position at Intel — parents want kids to be lawyers and doctors.”

As for Sibo’s future with NASA, there are no definite plans. Ugalde is just grateful and excited to be a part of such a historical invention and moving technology along to make humankind an interplanetary species.