HELSINKI – French startup ThrustMe has conducted the first tests on a track of an innovative iodine-powered electric propulsion system, proving that it has the ability to change a track from CubeSat.
ThrustMe’s NPT30-I2-1U, the first iodine propulsion system to be launched into space, is aboard the Beihangkongshi-1, a 12U CubeSat developed by Chinese commercial satellite manufacturer Spacety.
A long 6-point rocket sent the satellite into orbit in November, along with a bunch of satellites for the architectural remote sensing firm Satellogic.
After several weeks of commissioning, the propulsion system was tested during two 90-minute burns in late December and early January. The burns resulted in a total altitude change of 700 meters, according to a press release from ThrustMe.
According to the companies, iodine appears to be a viable propellant for electric propulsion systems, and it is a step in the commercialization of the system.
The system in particular can have an impact on the sustainability of the space. This allows a small satellite to lower its altitude, reduce the time in orbit, to see the satellite rise again into the Earth’s atmosphere and thus reduce space debris in the lower orbit.
The development comes as national space agencies and private enterprises plan launches of so-called mega-constellations, each consisting of hundreds or thousands of satellites.
In addition to speeding up disruption, the low-mass system also provides small satellites with propulsive capabilities to maintain orbits and avoid collision.
Explosions caused by the remaining fuel and batteries for satellites and rockets and collisions between spacecraft are a major contributor to the growing space pollution problem.
The European Space Agency estimates that as of January 2021, there are 34,000 debris objects larger than 10 centimeters and 900,000 pieces between 1 and 10 centimeters in orbit. Even a few kilometers per second can threaten even the smallest fragments of spacecraft, including the International Space Station.
ThrustMe claims the use of iodine as a propellant is a breakthrough for the satellite industry. It allows propulsion systems to be fully delivered to customers in advance, significantly simplifying and streamlining the satellite integration process.
Conversely, most conventional electric propulsion systems use scarce, expensive xenon or krypton that also need to be stored under high pressure. When heated, the solid iodine turns into gas without progressing through a liquid phase.
‘It has been a long road to bring this product from dream to reality. To make this happen, we had to innovate, develop a complex system from the ground up and conduct fundamental research studies, as many properties of iodine are lacking in scientific databases, ‘said Dmytro Rafalskyi, CTO of ThrustMe.
Ane Aanesland, CEO of ThrustMe, said SpaceNews by email what the company will be delivering systems to various customers this year.
‘In addition, we are also preparing for two demonstrations of our 1.5U version in orbit with a predicted total impulse capacity of 9500 Ns. The first to arrive in 2021 is a national mission for the space agency that we will announce later, ‘said Aanesland.
A further demonstration will be aboard the GOMspace GOMx-5 mission scheduled for Q2 2022. NPT30-I2-1U is also being prepared for the Geostationary (GEO) satellite market.
ThrustMe is a derivative of École Polytechnique and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The firm has also gained support from ESA through its Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) program.
ThrustMe and Spacety, a Chinese private firm founded in 2016, collaborated for the first time in 2019, with the I2T5, cold gas charger without pressure, aboard the Xiaoxiang-1 (08) CubeSat. It has tested critical technologies for the storage, delivery and sublimation of iodine.
Another larger NPT30 is on Hisea-1, a first miniature C-band radar (SAR) satellite for Space launched in December on the test flight Long 8 March.
Hisea-1 already has its first images, with a resolution of three meters per pixel, using the strip mode, and also images of one meter resolution in the spotlight or star mode.
Spacety announced today that it has 3-meter resolution image of an area in the province of Western Sulawesi in Indonesia, which was hit by an earthquake of 6.2 on January 15 to relevant United Nations agencies to help aid. The image was submitted via the National Comprehensive Earth Observation Data Sharing Platform.
