Paper Category: Propulsion
-
WAVE-XS: Water-Based Micropropulsion for Smallsats
Europe’s rapid smallsat scaling is increasing demand for propulsion that is safe to handle, simple to integrate, and operationally useful across the full mission lifecycle—including collision-avoidance maneuvers and end-of-life deorbit. This paper presents WAVE-XS, a water-centered micropropulsion architecture for CubeSats and small spacecraft that uses stored liquid water as the only consumable and converts it…
-
New updates on the EU Space Act: licensing, propulsion and In-orbit servicing
The first draft of the EU Space Act was published in June 2025, introducing numerous new regulatory concepts and standards. Among these were requirements for specific satellite hardware, including onboard propulsion systems and, in certain cases, in-orbit interfaces. This presentation will provide an overview of the upcoming EU space law as an example of the…
-
SCALING UP SPACE PROPULSION PRODUCTION
This paper presents Dawn Aerospace’s transition from prototype-based development to low-volume serial production of advanced green propulsion systems. Over the past years, Dawn has evolved from delivering one to two flight systems per year to at least four complete propulsion systems per month, while maintaining high quality, traceability, and customer responsiveness. This transformation coincides with…
-
FROM PRINTER TO ORBIT: THE 0.8U CUBEDRIVE BIPROPELLANT PROPULSION SYSTEM
This paper presents the current state of the art of Dawn Aerospace’s 0.8U CubeDrive, a fully integrated green bipropellant propulsion system developed for CubeSat and microsatellite applications. Building on earlier work, the paper highlights recent design improvements and accumulated flight heritage. The 0.8U CubeDrive represents a significant advancement in miniaturised propulsion by integrating all major…
-
DESIGN AND VALIDATION OF A RENDEZVOUS & PROXIMITY OPERATIONS CONCEPT
Loop’s Phase-1 demonstration defines a focused rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) CONOPS between the Space Utility Vehicle (SUV) and the Orbital Propellant Depot (OPD). Both spacecrafts will be injected into Low Earth Orbit in a polar plane, selected for frequent ground-track revisit, consistent lighting for optical sensors, and regulatory advantages that simplify deorbit planning and…
-
A Coupled Analytical-Simulation Approach to Redundant Small Spacecraft AOCS
Missions including close-proximity operations and docking (CPOD) as well as in-orbit servicing are redefining the capabilities of small spacecraft. As a result, attitude and orbit control systems (AOCS) requirements have evolved to include not only attitude maintenance, but also 6-DoF translation and rotation. Cold-gas thruster arrays are key to these capabilities, but optimising their design…
-
ENPULSION NANO and MICRO propulsion systems: from flight heritage to design updates
Over 300 NANO and MICRO propulsion systems have been deployed in space, servicing a variety of customers, missions and applications in large number of different orbits and platform sizes. The significant flight heritage gained from these units has been continuously used to improved design and operations of the systems. While the NANO propulsion system is…