Posted on 16 September, 2026
The Danish manufacturer is installing the systems on its production line. The first satellites fitted with them are due for launch in October 2026.
GomSpace has integrated around 40 ThrustMe low-power electric propulsion systems into satellites now in production, the two manufacturers announced today at World Satellite Business Week. The first satellites equipped with the systems are scheduled for launch in the coming months. This integration strengthens GomSpace's ability to deliver mission-ready satellite platforms with enhanced manoeuvrability and reduced integration effort for customers.
GomSpace develops and delivers small satellite platforms, subsystems and complete mission solutions for government, commercial, research and defense customers worldwide. Its modular platform portfolio enables customers to reduce development risk, shorten deployment timelines and focus on mission objectives rather than subsystem integration. The company's technologies have supported hundreds of missions and accumulated more than 160 years of combined operational experience in orbit.
Electric propulsion allows satellites to reach operational orbit, maintain position, avoid collisions and safely deorbit at the end of their mission. By integrating propulsion directly into the platform manufacturing process, GomSpace delivers a more complete and mission-ready solution, reducing complexity and enabling customers to begin operations more quickly after launch.
The ThrustMe system is supplied as a single unit: the thruster comes with its power electronics, fluidics, propellant and onboard software, and it tunes itself in orbit and performs maneuvers automatically. Most electric propulsion suppliers deliver the thruster alone and leave the satellite manufacturer or the operator to develop the control software. For GomSpace, propulsion is installed by its own integration teams, with no propulsion software to write in-house.
“One of our goals is to remove complexity from the satellite development process. With propulsion integrated as part of the platform, customers receive a solution that is ready to support their mission from day one, without having to invest time and resources in additional subsystem integration.” said Carsten Drachmann, CEO of GomSpace. “We needed a supplier able to deliver in volume and on schedule, and a system our own integration teams could install.
ThrustMe manufactures its systems in Verrières-le-Buisson, near Paris, and ships one a day. Its thrusters run on iodine, stored on board in solid form. Heated, it turns to gas and feeds the thruster directly, which removes the pressurized xenon tank used in conventional electric propulsion, together with its mass and volume. The company was the first in the world to demonstrate iodine electric propulsion in orbit, with results published in the journal Nature in 2021. 244 of its systems have been launched on more than 90 satellites and have logged over 22,000 hours of in-orbit maneuvers.
“Going into a manufacturer’s standard build is a different exercise from winning a single mission,” said Ane Aanesland, founder and CEO of ThrustMe. “The system has to be as predictable as every other part on the list, and it has to be installed without a propulsion specialist on site. We built the product for that. There are now 22,000 hours of maneuvers in orbit behind it.”
Carsten Drachmann and Ane Aanesland are both attending World Satellite Business Week in Paris, from 14 to 17 September, where ThrustMe is exhibiting at booth #14
About GomSpace Group AB
Founded in 2007, GomSpace is a global provider of small satellite solutions with customers in more than 60 countries. The company’s business operations are mainly conducted through the wholly owned Danish subsidiary, GomSpace A/S, with headquarters and operational facilities in Aalborg, Denmark. GomSpace also has key operations in Luxembourg, France, and the United States. GomSpace develops and delivers advanced systems and services that enable governments, commercial enterprises, and research institutions to achieve their objectives in space. The company’s expertise covers satellite subsystems, complete small satellite missions, and satellite operations, providing solutions that support smarter, faster, and more affordable access to space.
The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm under the ticker GOMX. FNCA Sweden AB is the Company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.gomspace.com.
About ThrustMe
ThrustMe designs and manufactures low-power electric propulsion systems for satellites. Founded in 2017 and spun out of the CNRS and École Polytechnique plasma physics laboratory, the company has continued its own research program ever since. It produces all of its systems in Verrières-le-Buisson, Essonne, France, at a rate of one system shipped per day, and supplies the thruster, power electronics, fluidics, propellant and onboard software as a single integrated system. It was the first in the world to demonstrate iodine electric propulsion in orbit, with results published in the journal Nature in 2021. More than 500 systems have been delivered to over 50 customers across Europe, North America and Asia. www.thrustme.com