Orbital Sciences Adds All-Electric Capability to GEOStar 3 with Aerojet Rocketdyne Thrusters

Artist’s rendering of a GEOStar 3 satellite. Photo: Orbital Sciences

[Via Satellite 02-04-2015] Orbital Sciences will use Aerojet Rocketdyne’s XR-5 Hall thrusters on its newest satellite bus, the GEOStar 3, for an all-electric design. The contract provides electric propulsion systems for the next three years, capable of both orbit raising and station-keeping.

Orbital Sciences introduced the GEOStar 3 in March 2014 as an evolution of the GEOStar 2. GEOStar 3 satellites can be stacked for dual launch aboard the Ariane 5, Proton and Falcon Heavy rockets, and are compatible with the H2A, Sea Launch and Land Launch rockets for single launches.

The Aerojet Rocketdyne XR-5 subsystem is comprised of 5-kilowatt class Hall thrusters with integral flow regulation valves, power processing units with built-in thruster selection units and all associated electrical harnessing. The company is transitioning production of the thruster to European Space Propulsion. Aerojet Rocketdyne has 12 XR-5 thrusters currently in production.