Snecma (Safran) and Thales Alenia Space France has signed an agreement on May 20 to use Snecma PPS®5000 all-electric plasma thruster propuls...
Snecma’s under development, higher-power PPS®5000 (5 kW), is designed to meet the needs of all next-generation satellites using all-electric propulsion.
Electric propulsion technology reduces the weight of a geostationary satellite by some 40% when used in an all-electric configuration.
Snecma’s PPS®1350 plasma thrusters (power rating of 1.5 to 2.5 kW), is already in service on the Alphabus platform, providind orbital positioning and stationkeeping for satellites.
Thales Alenia Space had already chosen the PPS®1350 thruster for its current line of Spacebus platforms.
Snecma has been developing electric thrusters for satellites for more than 30 years. It now offers a range of Hall effect plasma thrusters and associated propulsion systems, at power ratings from 500 W to 20 kW.
Onboard thrusters in satellites are used to control the orientation and position of orbiting satellites.
