PBR-20 (water vapor thruster)

Vendor profile

Overview

PBR-20 (water-based resistojet thruster) is a low pressure (<60 kPa) propulsion system with a scalable water tank and a redundant flow control system with a fail-safe valve. The thruster unit is modular and it is possible to expand the overall system by clustering multiple units and scaling the propellant tank as needed. The limits of such clustering or scaling are determined by the mass, volume or power of a spacecraft.

The individual units provide a total impulse of >220 Ns and a specific impulse of >70 s, with a thrust of 1 mN. The first model was demonstrated aboard a 3U ISS-deployed CubeSat in 2019 and two flight model thrusters are to be delivered in 2021 and launched by SLS and Falcon-9, respectively. The thruster operated in low earth orbit in March 2023 on board Sony "EYE" satellite.

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Overview

Name: PBR-20 (water vapor thruster)
Vendor: Pale Blue
Subsystem: Propulsion Subsystem
Component Type: Electric Propulsion System
Form Factor: All
Heritage: Yes

Details

Envelope: 1 U
Nominal Thrust: 1 mN
Total Impulse: 220 Ns
Wet Mass: < 1.5 kg

Vendor Details

Name: Pale Blue
Website: https://pale-blue.co.jp/
Founded: 2020
Summary: Pale Blue is a spacetech company spun out from the University of Tokyo in 2020. The company is dedicated to providing a propulsion solution for spacecraft and it produces a range of systems that use water as a propellant. Through its innovative propulsion technology, Pale Blue aims to create mobility that is core to the space industry.