NationSat Satellites to be Powered by Apollo Fusion
Saturn Satellite Networks has selected Apollo Fusion propulsion systems for Saturn's NationSat geostationary communications satellites. The Apollo 1.4 kW ACE Max propulsion system will be used for orbit transfer to geosynchronous orbit and on-orbit station keeping on 15 year missions.
"Apollo's EP system supports Saturn's objective to provide satellite ownership economics to emerging Third World nations and improve the economics of more established Satellite Owner Operators."
Saturn CEO Jim Simpson.
Saturn selected Apollo Fusion because Apollo's unique Electric Propulsion system supports the Saturn objectives to enable its NationSat small GEO satellites to perform functions of much larger satellites, hence substantially reducing the barrier to spacecraft development and manufacturing.
"Apollo's EP system supports Saturn's objective to provide satellite ownership economics to emerging Third World nations and improve the economics of more established Satellite Owner Operators," said Saturn CEO Jim Simpson.
"Saturn has always been focused on delivering very low cost satellites with lots of capacity. So our low cost, high performance ACE Max Hall thruster system is a great fit for their upcoming NationSat missions," said Apollo CEO Mike Cassidy.
Apollo Fusion, Inc. designs and builds state of the art Hall thruster propulsion systems for a variety of government and commercial satellite programs.
Hall Effect Thrusters (HET) were developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center. HET gets its name because it traps electrons with an intense radial magnetic field in an azimuthal Hall current moving around the circumference of an annular ceramic channel. The electrons in the circulating Hall current ionize the onboard propellant - the inert gas xenon - and create an ionized plasma. The xenon plasma is then accelerated axially, via an applied electric field along the coaxial channel, to an exit velocity of up to 65,000 miles per hour to produce thrust.
The interaction of the accelerated plasma and the downstream edge of the channel, where the plasma is the most energetic, results in erosion of the surrounding magnetic system used to generate the plasma. One of NASA Glenn's novel designs relies on an azimuthally symmetric configuration that minimizes radial magnetic fields at the discharge chamber walls. This configuration completely shields the walls of the discharge chamber from the high-energy plasma ions. With regard to the discharge-channel-wall replacement innovation, an actuator can be configured to extend the discharge chamber along the centerline axis. The actuator can be either mechanical or programmable. In either case, the sleeve can be extended while an upstream portion of the discharge chamber remains stationary, thereby preventing plasma exposure. These novel designs increase the efficiency and extend the lifetime of the HET to five times that of unshielded thrusters, enabling a new era of space missions.
(Source: Apollo Fusion news release and NASA. Image provided by Apollo Fusion)