SEPTIR
Howe Industries
Radioisotope-powered electric thruster delivering 3,048 s specific impulse at only 3 W power draw, targeting small satellite and deep space platforms that require long-duration, near-zero power electric propulsion.
Typed specifications4 values
Discloses 3 of 10 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 3).
- Mass
- 10 kg product page
- Thrust
- 0.295 mN product page
- Specific impulse
- 3 048 s product page
- Power consumption
- 3 W product page
Each value is typed with its unit and measurement condition and cites the datasheet page it was taken from. Nothing is guessed: a field that is absent here has not been published by the manufacturer. machine-extracted ✓ checked by NewSpace Market ✓ manufacturer confirmed by the manufacturer.
As published by the supplier5 lines, in the manufacturer's own wording
- Specific impulse
- 3,048 s
- Power draw
- 3 W
- Thrust
- 0.295 mN
- System mass
- 10 kg
- Propulsion type
- Electric (radioisotope-powered ion)
About
SEPTIR (Small Electric Propulsion Thruster using Ionizing Radioisotopes) is an electric propulsion system developed by Howe Industries that uses radioisotope energy to ionize and accelerate a propellant stream, producing thrust at extremely high specific impulse with negligible solar power consumption. The design targets spacecraft operating in deep space or other environments where solar power is scarce or unavailable, while still requiring precise attitude control or trajectory adjustment.
The thruster draws only 3 W of electrical power while delivering a specific impulse of 3,048 seconds, enabling long-duration, low-thrust propulsion missions that would be impossible with conventional chemical or even standard electric propulsion systems requiring kilowatts of solar panel output. With a total system mass of 10 kg, SEPTIR offers a highly mass-efficient propulsion option for small satellite platforms.
The radioisotope ionization approach couples natural decay energy from a radioisotope source to create the ion beam without requiring a dedicated large power subsystem. This makes SEPTIR suitable for deep space small spacecraft, long-lived GEO station-keeping platforms, and any mission profile where propulsion power margin is extremely limited.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.