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‘Save the Earth’ is a message that’s ground into us from an early age – drop anything on the footpath and before you’re able to bend down, exect a five-year-old to shout “LITTER BUG!” and, rightly, shame you. But our efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink the long term effects of our consumption on the planet tend to stop there. Not for forward-thinking scientists, however – ‘the final frontier’ has been a dumping ground for rubbish since the first foray into space.

With phalic rockets shepherding billionaires into the cosmos, what better time to think about trash outside our own atmosphere?

ThrustMe has signed a research agreement with the Research School of Physics at the Australian National University (ANU) to study new electrothermal plasma systems and alternative propellants for space applications including spacecraft propulsion, simulation of low-Earth-orbit environments and future in-situ resource utilization. The plasma systems also have important ground-based industrial applications related to material processing and waste gas disposal. 

The Norwegian Space Agency and ThrustMe announce that they have completed trial integration of ThrustMe's NPT30-I2 propulsion system into the NorSat- TD satellite. During the mission, which is on schedule for launch in early 2022, both parties will demonstrate, amongst other things, just-in-time, low-thrust satellite collision avoidance maneuvers—a critical capability for acting on space situational awareness data and ensuring a sustainable space environment.

On parle beaucoup en ce moment de l’entrepreneuriat spatial, le “Newspace”, mais le domaine reste encore largement préempté par de grandes figures masculines tels que Elon Musk ou Jeff Bezos pour ne citer qu’eux. Pourtant des femmes regardent au delà des étoiles. Nous vous proposons 3 portraits à l’occasion du International Women’s Days. Partons à la découverte de Sandra Budimir, Alice Memang et Ane Aanesland. 

French startup ThrustMe has performed the first on-orbit tests of an innovative iodine-fueled electric propulsion system, proving its ability to change a CubeSat’s orbit.

ThrustMe’s NPT30-I2-1U, the first iodine electric propulsion system sent into space, is aboard the Beihangkongshi-1, a 12U CubeSat developed by Chinese commercial satellite maker Spacety. 

For the first time ever, a telecommunications satellite has used an iodine propellant to change its orbit around Earth. The small but potentially disruptive innovation could help to  clear the skies of space junk, by enabling tiny satellites to self-destruct cheaply and easily at the end of their missions, by steering themselves into the atmosphere where they would burn up.