Tenders Are Invited For Isp Optimised Ep System For Atmospheric Propellants

Tenders are invited for ISP Optimised EP System for Atmospheric Propellants - Expro plus. Open Date: 07/08/2025 09:32 CET Closing Date: 08/10/2025 13:00 CET Price Range: 200-500 KEURO design, construct and test a thruster system with adaptable/variable high Isp of at least over 3500s using atmospheric propellants. DescriptionA low Earth orbit is the simplest and most cost effective orbit for a satellite placement. LEO is used for communication satellites, weather satellites, and commercial organisations. Using LEO as an operational zone has certain advantages. However, LEO satellites are subject to atmospheric drag and as a result, over time these objects slow down and their orbits slowly decay. Thus, their lifetimes are limited by the amount of propellant satellites can carry to compensate for this disturbance. In order to compensate this drag effect, both chemical and electrical propulsion could be used. However, both propulsion technologies would need a big of propellant that needs to be stored in the S/C. To improve this situation the surrounding residual gas could be used to save propellant mass and increase mission lifetime. The atmospheric gases could be collected, compressed and used as propellant for the thruster. In 2006 ESA CDF study proposed the ram-EP concept for enhancing spacecraft lifetime by collecting from the atmosphere the molecules to propel EP thrusters. Afterwards the study ESA project, Preliminary characterization test campaign of Electric Propulsion technology with non conventional propellants, a Hall thruster, the PPS1350-TSD, and an ion engine, the RIT-10 EBBM, have been experimentally characterized with nitrogen and oxygen. In two more recent ESA activities the suitability of the HETs and Plasma Thrusters are studied or under investigation. The main problem in these cases seems however to be the limited available Isp. The Gridded Ion Engines have the flexibility to reach high Isp values due to their variable beam voltage. This activity aims fora study to design, construct and test of such a thruster system, answering the VLEO missions.This activity encompasses the following tasks: -Defining the EP system requirements for a specific application with at least 3 different Ispvalues.- Designing and constructing a thruster system with adaptable Isp to answer the requirementsderived in objective 1- Testing of the thruster in relevant environment.- Defining the way forward after understanding the limitations of the technology, based on theresults of the objective 3Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs) Tender Link : https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/filter/open

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