Wr. Neustadt, Austria, August 29th, 2023 – Almost four months ago, on May 1st, GS-1 by Gravity Space, the world’s first nanosatellite destined for geostationary orbit, was launched on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Mid July it reached another important milestone: commissioning of the spacecraft was successfully completed and the satellite was sent on its way to its final orbit in GEO, which it successfully reached last week by utilizing three of ENPULSION’s NANO AR³ propulsion systems. A historical effort GS-1, a 16U satellite manufactured by Space Inventor, is the smallest satellite ever to go to geostationary orbit. It is utilizing the ENPULSION NANO AR³ thruster – which is the first ENPULSION thruster with vectoring capabilities to be used in GEO. This first of its kind mission demonstrates that nanosatellites and FEEP propulsion technology are a competitive and viable option for GEO missions – historically a domain of large and very heavy satellites and traditional chemical propulsion systems. Successful satellite commissioning & reaching of final orbit After the commissioning of the GS-1 satellite was successfully completed and crucial manoeuvres and operational tests were performed, the vectoring capabilities of the ENPULSION NANO AR³ propulsion systems were fully utilized and the climb of the spacecraft to its final orbit began in mid-July. Last week Space Inventor announced via its LinkedIn Page that GS-1 “has successfully reached its designated slot in the geostationary orbit, concluding an extraordinary journey of more than 28 million kilometers while painstakingly raising its orbit by 1000 km.“ This is an incredible effort and a historical success by Space Inventor and ENPULSION’s On-Ground Support and On-Orbit Support Teams. Learn more about the ENPULSION NANO AR³ Space Inventor and ENPULSION – pioneers of space technology “We are very proud of this opportunity to demonstrate what small satellites and FEEP technology are capable of and what it can achieve for our customers by successfully manoeuvring a nanosatellite into GEO. An effort like this would have seemed unfeasible only a few years ago. We need pioneers like Space Inventor who really push our boundaries as an industry and make seemingly impossible things possible.” – said Alexander Reissner, CEO of ENPULSION About Space Inventor Space Inventor is a satellite manufacturer focusing on providing microsatellites in the range from 10 kg to 200 kg using a modular and scalable platform where high performance, reliability, and innovation form the common denominator. Space Inventor’s team has 250+ years combined experience in the space industry. The company’s mission is to tirelessly play with our predisposed limitation for satellite engineering and create beauty and innovation in space technology. Space Inventor is experienced in the full life cycle of space missions from planning through concept development, satellite manufacturing, launch and operations. About ENPULSION With close to 200 thrusters in space, more than 300 thrusters delivered to more than 40 customers worldwide and more than 150 years of accumulated on-orbit operation, ENPULSION is the world’s leading manufacturer of electric propulsion systems for nano- and microsatellites. The company is supporting customers on 4 continents from its headquarters in Austria, as well offices in the US and France. Its products are based on the company’s Field-Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) technology, behind which are more than 30 years of research and development work in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the FOTEC Research Facility. Contact our team
