Electric Propulsion Pioneer Phase Four Reveals Results That Challenge Incumbents on Performance, Promising a New Era of Satellite Functionality

April 16, 2018

Phase Four, a provider of electric radio frequency (RF) thrusters for in-space propulsion, announced the results of third party performance testing by The Aerospace Corporation, a provider of independent technical and scientific research to national security space (NSS) programs. The testing found Phase Four's second generation of RF thrusters achieved their best performance to date, demonstrating performance on par with today's state-of-the-art Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs) and a 3000% efficiency increase over all existing RF plasma thrusters. Phase Four's Chief Scientist, Dr. M. Umair Siddiqui will reveal the full set of findings in his "Technology Testing" panel today at the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Phase Four's thruster fires plasma as it achieves the highest performing electrode-free RF engine data ever directly measured.

The Phase Four CubeSat Class RF thruster tested by The Aerospace Corporation achieved the highest performing electrode-free RF engine data ever directly measured, producing up to 3.3 mN of thrust at 700 seconds specific impulse. The improvements were 6x greater than the proof-of-concept "RFT-0" and were a 30x improvement in specific impulse per Watt over any RF thruster ever directly tested on a thrust stand. Phase Four's RF thruster achieved this despite being less than 10% mass and volume of other systems. This is significant as the RF thruster is particularly easy to manufacture compared to incumbents, making it a strong candidate for a mass-produced engine for satellite mega-constellations.

"These results validate our vision: to increase access to space by producing a thruster that can be used by all satellites, while matching performance levels previously available only to huge and expensive spacecraft," said Dr. M. Umair Siddiqui, Chief Scientist of Phase Four. "This sets a new bar for what can be achieved with these smaller electric thrusters, which offer high levels of power while eliminating many of the design and manufacturability issues - electrodes, complex electronics, and complex fabrication - which have plagued electric propulsion systems to date."