ENPULSION to cooperate with MIT Lincoln Laboratories on the 6U Agile MicroSat mission

WIENER NEUSTADT, November 4, 2019. We are very proud to announce that on September 23 2019, ENPULSION was selected by MIT Lincoln Laboratory to develop the Agile MicroSat thruster technology.  The Agile MicroSat mission will demonstrate the potential for reliable low altitude performance of CubeSats.  Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has been selected to design and manufacture the 6U Agile MicroSat. Funded by the U.S. Air Force, the launch is planned for late 2021.

ENPULSION is proud to take a part in this project as a provider of high-quality thruster solutions which are of critical importance for the success of this advanced mission. For this purpose, ENPULSION will deliver a thruster offering active thrust vector control without moving parts, the IFM Nano Thruster SE. This effect is achieved by the segmented extractor which enables the steering of the beam and achieves precise thrust pointing. This modification of the IFM Nano Thruster is also available for pre-order on the company’s website www.enpulsion.com.

ENPULSION is very much looking forward to participating in this project with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and BCT and to contribute to its success.

ENPULSION was founded in 2016 as a product spin-off of FOTEC, the research subsidiary of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria, to produce and commercialize the Field-Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) technology for the global market. This technology is based on more than 20 years of research and development work in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA).

In its own semi-automated production facility, ENPULSION is manufacturing the IFM Nano Thrusters – a compact, scalable, and modular electric propulsion system with commodity pricing as well as ultra-short lead times. The IFM Nano Thruster is used as a compact pre-qualified building block in order to provide customized propulsion solutions for nano- and microsatellites. By clustering the IFM Nano modules the scaled version – the IFM Micro Thruster – can be created to target small and medium-sized space crafts as well.

ENPULSION propulsion systems are provided to customers on a global scale and the company has expanded with a representative office in the U.S.A. in 2017. As of October 2019, there are 25 IFM Nano Thrusters in space with total deliveries approaching 100 thrusters.