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Königswinter/Germany,

The German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) and Thales Deutschland signed a contract on 17.07.08 for the design and manufacturing of the electric so-called High Efficiency Multi Stage Plasma (HEMP) propulsion system and its integration on a satellite, to demonstrate its successful operation in space. The Thales competence center for satellite technologies in Ulm is responsible for the development, qualification and production of the system.

A configuration of several HEMP thrusters will be deployed for position control of the "SmallGeo" satellite. This spacecraft is being developed and built under the ESA ARTES11 programme, in order to test new technologies for telecommunication satellites.

The new HEMP thrusters are more effective, lighter and thus more economical than usual thrusters. The compact and reliable design of the HEMP thrusters, their low degree of complexity and the reduced consumption of propellant lead to significant cost reductions in comparison with conventional propulsion systems.

The HEMP thrusters operate by ionizing neutral Xenon propellant gas atoms in a plasma discharge channel and subsequently accelerating them by the applied electric field. The magnetic confinement allows such an effective acceleration that thermal loss can be minimised and thus the efficiency is optimised.

To ensure successful operation in space, the propulsion system will be subjected to extensive testing under simulated space conditions in specially designed vacuum chambers. 

 "The core idea of the new thruster was born during the development of travelling wave tubes for satellite communication - we are world leaders in this area. The principle was based on expert insight into the physics of this technology. If we prove the effectiveness of the system in operation with the upcoming project, then this new product will emerge to provide a significant contribution to space technology. We are continuing the decades-old tradition of cutting-edge technological R&D in Thales, Ulm.", as Dr. Markus Hellenthal, CEO of Thales Deutschland pointed out.