Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) Thruster
Kreios Space
Electric thruster ingesting residual atmospheric particles at Very Low Earth Orbit and converting them to plasma for continuous thrust — no onboard propellant tank required.
Typed specifications2 values
Discloses 1 of 10 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 3).
- Propellant
- other atmospheric gas (air-breathing electric propulsion) · product page
- Design lifetime
- 7 years min · 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 supplier4 lines, in the manufacturer's own wording
- Satellite platform lifetime
- >7 years
- Operating altitude
- Can extend below 200 km
- Propellant
- None required — ingests atmospheric gas
- Development generations
- K-1 (2021), K-2 (2023), K-3 (2024)
About
Kreios Space’s air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) system enables sustained satellite operation in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), an orbit traditionally unworkable due to atmospheric drag. It runs only on collected atmospheric gas and solar power, requiring no onboard propellant tank. Development has progressed through prototype generations: K-1 (2021, first helicon plasma thruster prototype, lab-tested ignition and plasma generation), K-2 (2023, integrated with intake system, vacuum-tested, stable operation), and K-3 (2024, tested with multiple gases, power levels, and mass flow rates, achieving the highest specific impulse, efficiency, and thrust to date).
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.