Helios Orbital Transfer Vehicle
Impulse Space
Impulse Space's Helios — a high-energy orbital transfer vehicle (space tug) using hypergolic propulsion for rapid maneuvering and delivery to MEO, GTO, and beyond.
Technical specifications
- Vehicle Type
- Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) / Space Tug
- Propulsion
- Hypergolic (high thrust, storable)
- Target Orbits
- MEO, GEO, GTO, cislunar, deep space
- Vs. Mira
- Higher energy / longer range missions than Mira (LEO tug)
- Compatibility
- Rideshare on Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and others
- Founder
- Tom Mueller (SpaceX co-founder, Merlin/Raptor engineer)
- HQ
- Redondo Beach, California, USA
About
Helios is Impulse Space’s second orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), positioned above the smaller Mira OTV to address missions requiring higher delta-V for medium and high Earth orbits (MEO, HEO, GEO, GTO) as well as deep space trajectories. Where Mira targets rapid LEO-to-LEO transfers, Helios targets multi-orbit missions requiring propellant capacity for cislunar and geostationary transfer insertions.
Helios uses hypergolic propellants (nitrogen tetroxide/monomethyl hydrazine or similar) for high thrust and indefinite propellant storability — critical for missions requiring long coast phases or waiting for launch windows. The vehicle is designed to be rideshare-compatible, launching as a secondary payload on Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, or other medium-to-heavy lift vehicles and then towing multiple customer satellites to their target orbits.
Impulse Space was founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller, SpaceX’s co-founder and chief propulsion engineer responsible for the Merlin and Raptor engines. The company is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, XFund, and others, and is based in Redondo Beach, California.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.