TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 France-based propulsion startup Ion-X announced Oct. 23 it will provide an upgraded version of its electrospray thruster to Univity, a three-year-old French venture planning 1500 small 5G broadband satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO).<\/p>\n
Ion-X CEO Thomas Hiriart said the company will supply propulsion systems for at least one of the two 350-kilogram UniShape prototype satellites Univity aims to launch in 2027, ahead of its full constellation deployment by 2030.<\/p>\n
The UniShape mission would mark the first flight of Ion-X\u2019s Halo-Max, designed to deliver around five times the total impulse (a measure of overall thrust capacity) of its Halo-100X thruster.<\/p>\n
Halo-100X, which completed its first in-orbit demonstration in January, is capable of reaching a total impulse of several thousand newton-seconds, according to Hiriart.<\/p>\n
Univity, formerly known as Constellation Technologies & Operations, recently deployed its first payload in low Earth orbit to test a service that would use cellular frequencies from terrestrial partners to connect user terminals developed in-house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mission achieved its technical validation objectives,\u201d Univity CEO Charles Delfieux said, adding that full results from the test campaign would be released next month.<\/p>\n
Univity partnered with France\u2019s largest network<\/a> of carrier-neutral hosting sites earlier this year to help integrate its proposed VLEO 5G services with terrestrial telecom operators.<\/p>\n