In service with the Norwegian Space Agency

On April 15, among the 51 payloads carried by a falcon 9 from SpaceX during the mission wear 7in addition to CubeSats French BROTHER 9 ofinvisible laboratories And InspireSat 7 from Latmoswas a small Norwegian-American technology demonstrator fitted with a French propulsion system: NorSat TD (for technology demonstration).

NorSat-TD, mounted on a 35 kg platform, was developed for the Norwegian Space Agency (Norsk Romsenter) of the Canadian laboratory SLF (Space Flight Laboratory), University of Toronto, Canada.

Support from Cnes and the EU

The satellite features the NPT30-I2 propulsion system, designed and built by the Ile-de-France startup push mea French manufacturer of electric motors founded in 2017 in Paris-Saclay, in Essonne, around iodized cold gas propulsion systems for cubesats.

Last September, the company announced an order to build engines for seven satellites The wall (Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver) from the Californian company Spire Global.

System funding for the NorSat TD mission was provided by the CNESas an institutional partner of the mission while supporting the industrialization of the NPT30-I2 product portfolio European Commission in the project context hug IIsponsored by theEuropean Union.

A rising trend

In an April 17 press release, ThrustMe welcomed this new achievement, commenting, “The fact that the Norwegian Space Agency’s NorSat-TD technology demonstration mission was successfully launched using the he iodine NPT30-I2 electric propulsion system is a testament to the growing trend to embed such systems in modern satellites. »