The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electrothermal thruster under development for possible use in spacecraft propulsion. It uses radio waves to ionize and heat an inert propellant, then a magnetic field to accelerate the resulting plasma, generating thrust. It is a plasma propulsion engine, one of several types of spacecraft electric propulsion systems.
SMART-1 was a Swedish-designed European Space Agency satellite that orbited around the Moon. It was launched on 27 September 2003 at 23:14 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. "SMART-1" stands for Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology-1. On 3 September 2006, SMART-1 was deliberately crashed into the Moon's surface, ending its mission.
Safran Aircraft Engines is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes, France. It designs, makes and maintains engines for commercial and military aircraft as well as rocket engines for launch vehicles and satellites.
The gridded ion thruster is a common design for ion thrusters, a highly efficient low-thrust spacecraft propulsion running on electrical power. These designs use high-voltage grid electrodes to accelerate ions with electrostatic forces.
Hispasat is the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa from orbital positions 30° west and 61° west. It was formed in 1989 and its activities include provision of communication services in the commercial and government sectors. Hispasat's fleet of satellites broadcast more than 1,250 television channels and radio stations to more than 30 million homes, as well as providing services such as broadband to mobile telephones and landlines.
A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral plasma. This is in contrast to ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting an ion current from plasma source, which is then accelerated to high velocities using grids/anodes. These exist in many forms. Plasma thrusters do not typically use high voltage grids or anodes/ cathodes to accelerate the charged particles in the plasma, but rather uses currents and potentials which are generated internally in the plasma to accelerate the plasma ions. While this results in a lower exhaust velocity by virtue of the lack of high accelerating voltages, this type of thruster has a number of advantages. The lack of high voltage grids of anodes removes a possible limiting element as a result of grid ion erosion. The plasma exhaust is 'quasi-neutral', which means that ion and electrons exist in equal number, which allows simply ion-electron recombination in the exhaust to neutralise the exhaust plume, removing the need for an electron gun. This type of thruster often generates the source plasma using radio frequency or microwave energy, using an external antenna. This fact, combined with the absence of hollow cathodes allows the intriguing possibility of being able to use this type of thruster on a huge range of propellants, from argon, to carbon dioxide, air mixtures, to astronaut urine.
The Eurostar E3000 is a generic satellite model most commonly used for commercial and military communications satellites manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. It is a member of Airbus Defence and Space's Eurostar family. It utilises a chemical, bi-propellant propulsion system for orbit raising and on-station manoeuvres with an optional plasma propulsion system (PPS). The PPS harnesses the Newtonian effect as a result of the ionisation of xenon gas employed by the use of Hall effect plasma thrusters. This system is most commonly used for North-South station-keeping. The E3000 was the first commercial satellite family to use lithium-ion batteries rather than the older nickel-based technologies for power supply during eclipses.
Boeing 702 is a family of communication satellite bus designed and manufactured by the Boeing Satellite Development Center. It covers satellites massing from 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) to 6,100 kg (13,400 lb) with power outputs from 3 to 18 kW and can carry more than 100 high-power transponders.
Alphabus is a family of heavy geostationary communications satellites developed by a joint venture between Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium Satellites in France, with support of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Inmarsat-4 F3 is a communications I-4 satellite operated by the British satellite operator Inmarsat. It was launched into a geosynchronous orbit at 22:43 GMT on 18 August 2008, by a Proton-M/Briz-M Enhanced carrier rocket. It is currently located at 97.65° West longitude, providing coverage of the Americas. It entered service on 7 January 2009.
Inmarsat-4A F4, also known as Alphasat and Inmarsat-XL, is a large geostationary communications I-4 satellite operated by UK based Inmarsat in partnership with the European Space Agency. Launched in 2013, it is used to provide mobile communications to Africa and parts of Europe and Asia.
The S400 is a family of pressure fed liquid propelled rocket engines manufactured by ArianeGroup at the Orbital Propulsion Centre in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
The BT-4 is a pressure-fed liquid rocket engine designed and manufactured by IHI Aerospace of Japan. It was originally developed for the LUNAR-A project, but it has been used as a liquid apogee engine in some geostationary communications satellite based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 and GEOStar-2 satellite buses. It has also been used on the HTV and Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft.
SPT-100 is a Hall-effect ion thruster, part of the SPT-family of thrusters. SPT stands for Stationary Plasma Thruster. It creates a stream of electrically charged xenon ions accelerated by an electric field and confined by a magnetic field.
Hispasat 30W-6 is a Spanish communications satellite by Hispasat that launched on a Falcon 9 on March 6, 2018. It is replacing Hispasat 1D at 30° West longitude and will provide service for television, broadband, corporate networks and other telecommunications applications. The satellite features 4 × SPT-100 plasma propulsion engines.
Inmarsat-6 F1 is a communications satellite to be operated by the British satellite operator Inmarsat and designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space on the Eurostar 3000EOR platform. Part of the I-6 satellite fleet, it will be Inmarsat's first dual-payload satellite, with capabilities in both L-band and Ka band.
HEMPT 3050 is a satellite station-keeping Ion thruster, currently selected for the use on German Heinrich Hertz satellite. It's designed to be used for both both: orbit-rising and station-keeping roles. To date it's been demonstrated to operate over 9000 hours.
