Way to go Orbion! We can’t wait to see your trusters launch into space later this month.
Orbion's Aurora Hall thruster turns 400! At 2:04 pm today the Aurora qualification life test reached 400 kN-s of total impulse. The thruster has been running in our vacuum chamber for 6,758 hours over 455 days. This is a monumental design and test achievement and the entire Orbion team is rightfully proud. Because time takes time these tests are expensive and lengthy. But they are crucial to ensure success for our customers. The thruster is showing no signs of failure and certainly has many more 1,000s of hours of life left. We suspended the test because we needed the vacuum chamber back for production testing! Reach out to Greg Orndorff and ask for our five IEPC conference papers describing our rigorous qualification program. Need small satellite propulsion? I know a place...