Pale Blue

Pale Blue is a Japanese space propulsion company founded in 2020 as a spin-out from the University of Tokyo. Headquartered in Kashiwa, Chiba, the company develops and manufactures water-based propulsion systems for small satellites. Pale Blue's product portfolio includes the PBI series water ion thrusters and PBR series water resistojets, covering a range of thrust and specific impulse requirements for nanosatellites and microsatellites. The company's patented electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) technology enables efficient extraction of ions from water on demand, combining high propellant efficiency with meaningful thrust. Pale Blue has achieved successful in-orbit demonstrations and received investment from Mitsubishi Electric and a $27 million grant from JAXA to advance next-generation water hybrid thruster technology for larger spacecraft.