Nanosatellite Mono & Bipropellant Propulsion Thruster
Stellar Exploration, Inc.
Miniaturized hypergolic bipropellant thruster delivering 3 N thrust at 285 s Isp, developed for a NASA-funded deep-space nanosatellite mission.
Typed specifications16 values
Discloses 5 of 10 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 3).
- Propulsion family
- chemical bipropellant · datasheet p.1 chemical monopropellant
- Thrust
- 3 000 mN product page
- Specific impulse
- 285 s bipropellant · datasheet p.1 200 s monopropellant | 285 s min · bipropellant | 200 s min · monopropellant
- Propellant
- hydrazine datasheet p.1 NTO (N2O4 or MON) | other hypergolic bipropellant, components not named
- Thruster technology
- monopropellant hydrazine datasheet p.1 bipropellant
- Flight heritage
- Monopropellant system flight heritage (Tyvak-0173/EG3, orbit raising after Transporter-2); to be used on NASA Capstone datasheet p.1
- Satellite class
- ESPA-class datasheet p.1 CubeSat Cubesat/ESPA-compatible scalable tanks | ESPA-class
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
- Thrust
- 3 N
- Specific impulse
- 285 sec
- Propellant feed
- Gear pumps for precise propellant metering, low-pressure tank design
- Propellant type
- Hypergolic bipropellant; monopropellant variants also available
- Flight heritage
- NASA CAPSTONE (12U lunar mission), EchoStar EG-3 (small-satellite delta-V record)
About
As part of early R&D for a NASA-funded deep space nano-satellite mission, Stellar Exploration designed, built, and tested a miniaturized hypergolic bipropellant thruster. It provides 3 N of thrust with 285 seconds of specific impulse. Propellant is pressurized with gear pumps, allowing for precise propellant metering and a low-pressure tank design. The in-house propulsion system controller board design leverages state-of-the-art BLDC motor control, and includes hardware for all necessary sensors and actuators.
Stellar Exploration also produces monopropellant thrusters in 0, 45 and 90 degree configurations, which have been extensively hot-fire tested. The company designed, built, and delivered the full propulsion system for NASA’s 12U CAPSTONE mission to the Moon, and separately built the propulsion system for EchoStar’s EG-3 satellite, completed in nine months, which achieved approximately 65 m/s of delta-V post-launch (a small-satellite world record at the time) with roughly 485 m/s of propellant remaining for subsequent maneuvers and deorbiting.
The company is currently developing propulsion systems for Mars-bound ESPA-class satellites, highly maneuverable DoD constellations, and in-space refueling technology.
Documentation
Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.