• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Featured
  • More News ⌄
    • SatNews
    • SatMagazine
    • MilSatMagazine
  • Events ⌄
    • MilSat Symposium
    • SmallSat Symposium
    • Satellite Innovation
  • Contacts
  • SUBSCRIPTION

SmallSat News

You are here: Home / Featured / NanoAvionics Contracts Accion Systems For the TILE-3 Smallsat Propulsion System For Upcoming Rideshare Mission

NanoAvionics Contracts Accion Systems For the TILE-3 Smallsat Propulsion System For Upcoming Rideshare Mission

October 12, 2020 by editorial

Artistic rendition of NanoAvionics smallsats in space.

NanoAvionics has signed a contract with Accion Systems to host their propulsion system, TILE 3, on-board the firm’s new rideshare mission for a demonstration flight in 2021.

Accion Systems procured this flight as the culmination of an ongoing US government sponsored propulsion program. The smallsat for the rideshare mission is based on NanoAvionics flight-proven M6P bus and will include several customer payloads that can fit the 4U payload volume. The rideshare mission is the fourth in a series of NanoAvionics rideshare missions and will be arranged by NanoAvionics US. The expected launch will be during the last half of 2021.

As part of the rideshare mission, NanoAvionics will take care of all aspects related to the satellite mission from payload integration, performance testing and spacecraft registration to launch and logistics, frequencies allocation, spacecraft commissioning and payload on-orbit operations. Previous rideshare missions included payloads by Lacuna Space, Blink-Astro (SpaceWorks Orbital subsidiary) and others.

The TILE propulsion system is uniquely superior to conventional electric propulsion, pioneering ionic liquid electrospray for commercial propulsion activities. TILE combines the use of a safe, inert liquid propellant with a simple mechanical design with few moving parts to create a propulsion system that is low-cost, compact, low pressure, and has less than 50% of the power draw of other propulsion technologies. The compact design and low power draw of the TILE system allows satellite bus manufacturers to allocate more satellite volume and power to revenue generating payloads.

Due to the simple system design, TILE propulsion systems have shorter lead times and are very cost competitive – ideal for smaller constellations through mass manufacturing. TILE’s modular design can be flexibly configured to meet various mission needs, mounting on almost any surface of the spacecraft, and easily and seamlessly integrated with existing mission control software.

Accion Systems’ TILE 3 propulsion.

Executive Comments

F. Brent Abbott

“Accion Systems’ TILE 3 is a revolutionary propulsion technology and NanoAvionics is looking forward to putting it through its paces in orbit,” said F. Brent Abbott, CEO of NanoAvionics US. “When flight proven, the TILE 3 system will make a great additional propulsion option to the NanoAvionics line of satellite buses. Rideshare missions drastically reduce mission cost, making them ideal for technology validation in space. Accion’s TILE 3 will be flying on our flagship M6P satellite bus, which NanoAvionics offers to the market along with a full range of nanosatellite buses up to 16U in size.”

Peter Kant

“NanoAvionics is the perfect partner for the TILE 3 launch as a space proven product,” said Peter Kant, CEO of Accion Systems. “We selected a demonstration partner that would fully represent the commercial potential of TILE 3. While this initial flight will provide propulsion to the 6U M6P, TILE 3 is designed to offer full propulsion capabilities to a wide variety of small satellites and we are excited to provide that capability to NanoAvionics’ line of satellite bus products.”

Artistic rendition of a NanoAvionics rideshare smallsat.

Filed Under: Featured, News

Primary Sidebar

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019

© 2019–2023 SatNews

x
Sign Up Now!

Enjoy a free weekly newsletter with recent headlines from the global SmallSat industry.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing! You will now receive weekly SmallSat News updates.
We love our advertisers.
And you will too!

Please disable Ad Blocker to continue... We promise to keep it unobtrusive.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.