CU Aerospace is developing highly improved low-power Teflon-fueled thrusters for satellites. Electric thrusters operate at high specific impulse (500-5000 sec) to reduce fuel mass. The Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) used advanced power conditioning equipment. The PPT is useful for station-keeping of satellite constellations, as a substitute for momentum wheels in attitude control systems, and as a precision thrust source for formation-flying satellite systems. Achieving our efficiency target of 25% would make our thruster much less expensive than the commonly used Hall Thruster, and therefore superior to the state-of-the-art. The PPT is also competitive because the solid propellant system is simpler, less expensive, and more reliable than high-pressure xenon systems.

CU Aerospace has also recently developed the exciting new ultra-large, ultra-lightweight Solar Sail (UltraSail) concept, which is estimated to deliver payload mass fractions as high as 60% for interplanetary missions.