Pale Blue Awarded JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4, to Demonstrate Next-generation Water Hybrid Thruster

Pale Blue has been selected to demonstrate the KIR-X, next generation water Hybrid Thruster under JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4. The KIR-X is an enhanced system to its Hybrid Thruster family, which incorporates a water vapor resistojet and a gridded ion thruster into one integrated unit, and the system will fly on JAXA’s RAISE-4 satellite after extensive testing and qualification on the ground.

The RAISE-4 is planned for a fiscal year 2024 launch, and in-orbit demonstration is meant to confirm KIR-X’s in-space propulsion performance by analyzing the satellite attitude and orbit information.

About the KIR-X

The KIR-X is an advanced hybrid propulsion system that runs on the ultimate green propellant, water. The thruster takes advantage of both the high fuel efficiency of a water ion thruster, ideal for non-urgent operations such as station-keeping and deorbit, and the high thrust of a water resistojet, suitable for quick maneuvers including orbit-acceleration and collision avoidance. Satellite operators can selectively choose a thrusting mode between the two options by a simple command.