Project description
Tiny electric propulsion system offers a boost to small satellites
The space industry is rapidly evolving from public and agency-led businesses involving lengthy and expensive projects towards a private-based industry developing constellations of shoebox-sized satellites delivering innovative Earth observation and telecommunications services. However, the lack of small, efficient and affordable propulsion systems significantly hinders the performance of tiny satellites as they are limited in their ability to change their orbit after launch. The EU-funded EXOTRAIL project plans to develop a tiny Hall-effect thruster that minimises power consumption compared to competing solutions. This type of electric engine uses a powerful magnetic field to accelerate a low-density plasma and produce thrust. Potential advantages of the new electric propulsion system include higher image resolution, lower launch costs, increased telecommunication coverage and increased lifespan by a factor of up to 20.
Objective
The space industry is rapidly evolving from a world where bus-sized satellites are being developed during years and for more than 200M$ towards a world where shoebox-sized satellites are being designed, built and launch for less than 1M$ and in less than a year. Constellations of these small satellites are delivering services in Earth observation and telecommunication. Due to this revolution, the small satellite market is growing at 20% per annum – 2.9Bn$ in 2017, 7.5Bn$ in 2022. However, these constellations suffer from a great lack of agility. Propulsion systems were poorly or not miniaturised, causing small satellites to be unable to change their orbit after launch. This induces high launch costs, no choice of the operational altitude and poor performances. Exotrail’s vision is to provide and sell this agility to the space industry. The first way we do this is by providing an affordable and efficient propulsion system for constellation of small satellites along with a set of software add-ons to design, optimise and operate propulsion manoeuvres. With electric propulsion, our customers can double their picture resolution, divide by two their launch costs, increase their telecommunication coverage and multiply their lifespan by a factor up to 20. Our miniaturised thruster using Hall effect technology minimises the power consumption compared to competing solutions. Because of this, we are able to greatly reduce the total cost of using propulsion for our customers. These competitive advantages have created strong customer interest for Exotrail including two letters of intent. Our thruster will be ready for the market in 2019. Our ambition is to become a global provider of agility by selling inspection, delivery and assembly services thanks to a fleet of light and agile vehicles equipped with our Hall effect thruster. The on-orbit servicing era will entirely disrupt the space industry in the next 10 years, and Exotrail will be part of this revolution.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
91300 Massy
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.