Orbit Fab and Neutron Star Systems partner to boost sustainable fuelling

Edinburgh / Denver / Colorado Springs, 8 April 2022. – Orbit Fab and Neutron Star Systems (NSS) established a cooperative agreement for co-development of satellite refuelling solutions with green propellants, NSS said. Under the agreement the companies will combine NSS’ propellant-agnostic electric propulsion technology with Orbit Fab’s refuelling interfaces and tankers. This will enable increasing the range of refuellable propellants.

The cooperation will build on Orbit Fab’s expertise in satellite refuelling solutions and the propellant flexibility of NSS’ SUPREME electric thruster. Adopting new green propellants such as LMP 103S will be critical for safer and more sustainable space operations, NSS said.

Orbit Fab launched its first tanker to orbit, Tanker-001 Tenzing, last summer. Earlier this month, the company also announced a US $12 million program to integrate RAFTI (Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface) onto Department of Defence assets.

NSS SUPREME is an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster leveraging industrially mature high-temperature superconductors to create magnetic fields. The result is a low thrust and high fuel efficiency thruster able to operate on different types of propellant.