Sitael HT100 Hall Effect Thruster firing

An innovative compact electric propulsion system has recently completed its extended qualification firing tests campaign in space-representative vacuum and temperatures conditions, leaving it ready to be deployed aboard the ESA-supported µHETSat technology demonstration microsatellite mission, slated for launch by the end of this year.

Developed by Sitael in Italy, the HT100 low power Electric Propulsion System is centered on a small size and low power Hall Effect Thruster, capable of boosting up to 6 millinewtons of thrust by accelerating ionised propellant particles through a magnetic field. Due to their high efficiency, Hall Effect Thrusters are in widespread use aboard geostationary and low-Earth orbit satellites for orbit maintenance purposes, increasing mission lifetimes, and enabling formation flying for constellations. Testing took place in a 6 x 13 m wide thermal vacuum chamber at Sitael’s premises and test facilities in Pisa, capable of reaching a vacuum level equivalent to ten billionths of the ambient pressure on Earth’s surface.