Nichols Martin
NASA has awarded a worldwide commercial license and contract to Apollo Fusion for Jet Propulsion Laboratory's magnetically shielded miniature hall thruster.
The award allows Apollo Fusion to produce three engineering models of the MaSMi thruster in support of JPL's Ascendant Sub-kW Transcelestial Electric Propulsion System or ASTRAEUS, the company said Tuesday.
ASTRAEUS is designed to generate low-power electric propulsion for small satellites. MaSMi delivers over 150 kilograms Xe of throughput as a key component of ASTRAEUS.
"The MaSMi thruster that we now have the exclusive license for can produce more than 2,000,000 N‑s of total impulse and yet is about the size of a soda can," said Mike Cassidy, CEO of Apollo.
The company will manufacture the MaSMi engineering models this summer.
