News | 14.01.2021

Exotrail demonstrates miniature Hall-effect thruster in orbit

French Prime Minister Jean Castex, Frédérique Vidal, French research and innovation minister, and Bruno le Maire, French economy and finance minister, are shown holding the ExoMG Hall-effect thruster during their visit to Exotrail on Jan. 8. Source: Exotrail & SpaceNews.

French startup Exotrail announced Jan. 12 that its miniature Hall-effect thruster ignited in orbit, and propelled a NanoAvionics R2 cubesat to change its semi-major axis by 700 meters.

“This is the smallest Hall thruster ever flown and the first time a Hall thruster flew on a satellite of fewer than 100 kilograms,” Exotrail CEO David Henri told SpaceNews. “This kind of technology is used on large satellites because of its superior level of performance. We are bringing the performance level to the world of smaller satellites.”

https://spacenews.com/exotrail-demonstrates-miniature-hall-effect-thruster-in-orbit/