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Satellite Internet

NASA clears dual-mode propulsion CubeSat for October launch

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has completed ground testing of a shoebox-sized CubeSat that runs high-thrust and low-thrust engines off one non-toxic propellant tank, ahead of an October 1 Falcon 9 launch.

By Tom Ellery · · 2 min read

NASA has finished ground testing a shoebox-sized CubeSat that could make small spacecraft cheaper and safer to fly, clearing the way for a launch no earlier than October 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode mission, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will flight-test a single integrated propulsion system that feeds two different engine types from one common fuel tank. Normally spacecraft carry separate high-thrust chemical systems for rapid moves like orbit insertion and low-thrust electric systems for efficient station-keeping — requiring multiple tanks and heavy plumbing.

This spacecraft uses one tank of the non-toxic ASCENT propellant to drive both a high-thrust combustion engine and low-thrust electrospray thrusters. NASA says the mass and volume saved leaves more room for scientific instruments and allows launch on smaller, less expensive rockets.

Over recent months engineers put the flight hardware through a pressurised helium leak test inside a vacuum chamber, thermal vacuum testing to mimic the extremes of orbit, and a spin test to validate mass properties and centre of gravity. The electrospray thrusters were developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the chemical propulsion module by Plasma Processes, and the spacecraft bus was integrated by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“There are a lot of odds and ends, and a lot of small challenges and some big ones,” said Nehemiah Williams, the demonstration’s project manager at NASA Marshall. “But ensuring the functionality of the propulsion system across all these different teams is what makes the mission successful.”

Once deployed into an orbit about 325 miles above Earth, the spacecraft will begin a nine-month mission, alternating between its high- and low-thrust engines on repeated orbit-raising and lowering manoeuvres to prove the dual-mode concept in space.

Sources

  • NASA, “NASA Tests Dual Mode Propulsion CubeSat Ahead of Launch”, 25 September 2026

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