ENPULSION is proud to announce that the Zentrum für Telematik (ZfT) in Würzburg has decided to select the company as its long-term partner to provide propulsion solutions for the NetSat and TOM missions. NetSat is a technology demonstrator funded by an ERC Advanced Grant (the highest valued European Research Award), which will prove the feasibility a formation of small satellites (CubeSats) as a platform for 3-dimensional sensor networks. Within the mission four CubeSats will be developed, built and equipped with the necessary subsystems required for formation operation, such as an attitude determination and control system, an orbit determination system, a communications system capable of inter-satellite communication as well as satellite-to-ground communication, as well as electrical propulsion for orbit control and formation keeping. The Telematics Earth Observation (TOM) mission studies ash clouds from volcanic eruptions that affect daily life on Earth in various ways by monitoring the 3D-extent of volcanic clouds with simultaneous photogrammetric observations from the different directions in the formation of small satellites. For this purpose it will use three micro-satellites with an optical payload for earth observation. One of the satellites will have a novel optical downlink to send data to the ground in addition to radio communication. The other satellites communicate via intersatellite links with each other and with the ground. In addition to Earth observation experiments, they should also carry out experiments in the field of communications (protocols, routing, scheduling, etc.). “The decision came after ZfT evaluated several propulsion options and finally selected as a clear winner the IFM Nano Thruster, which is based on ENPULSION’s proprietaryField-Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) technology. FEEP allows effortless scalability and cost efficiency in a compact and easy-to-implement product.” – said Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling, who is the president of ZfT. The first IFM Nano Thruster has already been delivered to ZfT with several others to follow. Both companies underline their commitment to continuing this cooperation also in the future to make NetSat and TOM a resounding success. ZfT will use ENPULSION’s products in all stages of these and other missions, and ENPULSION will provide its full development support for these exciting research projects which will further enhance knowledge about space. ENPULSION is a world-leading developer and manufacturer of electric propulsion systems for the Nano- and Microsatellite market. The company was founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria – where the first production and commercialization of the Field-Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) technology was established. With this infrastructure, ENPULSION has created a compact, scalable, and low-costs electric propulsion system. The company also has a sales office in the USA. www.enpulsion.com Zentrum für Telematik (ZfT) is an independent research institute in Würzburgaddressing interdisciplinary applications in Telematics (= telecommunication + Automation + informatics) to provide services at remote locations. Here the main working fields are in advanced industrial automation (Industry 4.0, tele-maintenance), mobile robotics (networked cars, 3D environment characterisation) and in “New Space” (small satellites, satellite formations). http://www.telematik-zentrum.de Learn more about our thrusters
