GomSpace's subsidiary in Sweden and ESA have signed a contract to develop a miniaturized electric propulsion system suitable for small spacecrafts going on interplanetary missions.

The contract will be carried out under ESA's General Support Technology Program during the next 18 months, and the value is EUR 700,000.

The work will be led by GomSpace Sweden and executed together with ASP Equipment and IMS Space Consultancy.

Small satellites are also being considered in the frame of interplanetary science missions, and in case the small spacecraft is not hitch-hiking on a mother craft, reliable high-performance propulsion is a necessity. In this project, the goal is to develop an electric propulsion system that can take a 20-40 kg class spacecraft from the edge of the Earth's gravitational field to an asteroid.

"This is an important step in expanding our propulsion capabilities. Providing such small spacecraft with its own propulsion capability of this caliber will significantly reduce the cost to perform interplanetary missions. Furthermore, such a propulsion capability will also find several applications on the commercial market in Earth orbits as well," says CEO, Niels Buus, from GomSpace.

The project will expand GomSpace's propulsion capabilities to span both cold-gas technology for station-keeping, collision avoidance and maneuvering as well as electric propulsion technology for orbit changes, e.g. for safely disposing of spacecraft after the end of a mission.

Related Links
GomSpace
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Hall thrusters will enable longer space missions
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Aug 21, 2019
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing has reignited interest in space travel. However, almost any mission beyond the moon, whether manned or unmanned, will require the spacecraft to remain fully operational for at least several years. The Hall thruster is a propulsion system that is often used by craft involved in long missions. A recent study by Andrey Shashkov and co-workers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia has shown how the operating lives of these systems ... read more