DARPA Awards Phase Four $14.9M Contract to Develop Air Breathing Electric Propulsion for Very Low Earth Orbit Operations
The award is part of DARPA's Otter program, which aims to develop, demonstrate, and collect on-orbit data for "air breathing" electric propulsion technologies that will harvest ambient low-density air as propellant, enabling extended satellite operations at VLEO altitudes.
- The award is part of DARPA's Otter program, which aims to develop, demonstrate, and collect on-orbit data for "air breathing" electric propulsion technologies that will harvest ambient low-density air as propellant, enabling extended satellite operations at VLEO altitudes.
- The Otter program will build upon a previous effort with DARPA that developed a proof-of-concept thruster prototype for novel, low-cost propellants.
- "Phase Four has designed and built electric propulsion systems that have been launched on 9 satellites with over 5,300 days of on-orbit flight heritage since the company was founded.
- We're thrilled to bring that heritage, experience, and innovation in electric propulsion systems to the Otter program."