Bangalore-based aerospace company Bellatrix Aerospace has successfully tested India’s 1st Hall-Effect Thruster, a highly efficient electric propulsion system for microsatellites.
*The experiments were carried out at the Spacecraft propulsion Research Laboratory (Asia’s largest privately funded laboratory) set up by Bellatrix at the Society for Innovation and Development-Indian Science (SID-IISc), Bangalore, Karnataka.
*The propulsion system is suitable for microsatellites weighing 50-500 kg.
*The current model of the thruster uses xenon as fuel. Technology is an important component of the space taxi that creates the Bellatrix aerospace.
Thruster :
*The Thruster is expected to be used for satellite missions in 2021. The drive is designed to power the major satellite galaxies to be launched in 2021-30.
*Bellatrix Aerospace has also developed the world’s 1st commercial microwave plasma thruster, which uses water as fuel. For this, the company has received an order from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
*Hall Thruster technology was initially developed in Russia, making it a highly reliable and time-tested electric propulsion system.
Bellatrix Aerospace:
1.Bellatrix Aerospace is the first IISc incubator to be established in 2015.
2.It currently operates on proprietary impulses, which make the impulse system more compact and less expensive.
*Has announced collaborations with other aerospace companies such as Satsur, Skyroot Aerospace and Truva Space in the mission of its ambitious orbit test vehicle (OTV).
*It is also developing a green chemical impulse system that makes it an environmentally friendly high-performance alternative to toxic and carcinogenic hydrous-based impulses.