23 October, French startup Ion-X, which specializes in electric motors, announced cooperation with Univity, a young French project, that plans to deploy a constellation of 1500 small satellites for broadband 5G communication in ultra-low Earth orbit (VLEO).
According to Ion-X CEO Thomas Iriar, the company will supply its upgraded version of the Halo-Max electric drive for at least one of the two prototype UniShape satellites by mass 350 Kg, the launch of which is scheduled for 2027 year. The full deployment of the Univity constellation is expected by 2030 year.
The UniShape mission will be the first flight of the Halo-Max thruster, which should provide about five times the total momentum (i.e. total traction power), than the previous Halo-100X model. The latter successfully passed demonstration tests in orbit in January and can provide a total impulse of several thousand newton seconds.
Univity company (to 2023 known as Constellation Technologies & Operations) has already put the first test payload into orbit, to check the operation of the service, which uses the frequencies of cellular operators to connect to the company's own terminals.
CEO Charles Delfier said, that the mission successfully completed its technical tasks, and full test results will be released next month.
Earlier this year, Univity entered into a partnership with France's largest network of neutral hosting centers, to integrate its future VLEO-5G services with terrestrial telecom operators.
In turn, Ion-X plans to 2026 year to produce 10 moved to the moon, and do 2028 year to increase production to 200 per year.
Iriar noted, that currently a commercial agreement has been signed only for the UniShape mission, but the company is ready to accelerate production in case of receiving larger orders for the next stages of the Univity project.
In addition, Ion-X will also supply the Halo-100X system for Estonia's OPS-SAT ORIOLE mission, aimed at demonstrating Earth observation technologies. Its launch is scheduled for October 2026 year. This will be the first practical use of the Halo-100X thruster in a mission, which has a targeted scientific and technological purpose, and not just engine testing.
Source: https://spacenews.com