Micropropulsion System

Microspace’s Micropropulsion System is built around micromachined silicon microthrusters, among the first of their kind in the world, packaged into modular, miniaturized thruster units that can be arranged at any position on a nanosatellite. The nozzles are shaped and optimized specifically for Deep Reactive-Ion Etching (DRIE) on silicon to maximize efficiency, then packaged via anodic bonding into thruster modules that are customized to each mission’s mounting requirements. The system is fully modular and is tuned to customer requirements, supporting attitude control, formation flight, small orbital corrections, debris avoidance and de-orbiting operations. It was flight-proven on Microspace’s own POPSAT-HIP1 satellite, which operated eight of these thrusters in orbit for 9 months, taking the technology to TRL9. Microspace also offers a more advanced propellantless propulsion system for permanent orbiting at a wide range of altitudes.