MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS-DEFENSE/. The VERA pulsed plasma engine developed at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) has been successfully tested for the first time during a real space flight, the press office of the Sitronics Group told TASS.
"The first tests of the VERA pulsed plasma engine (Volume-Effective Rocket-propulsion Assembly) were performed during a real space flight. The propulsion system is on board the CubeSX-HSE-2 nanosatellite of the Higher School of Economics (HSE)," the press office said.
The tests envisaged several manually controlled discharges in the engine and aimed to check the performance of all systems. "The operability of the propulsion system has been confirmed: the capacitor charging system, upon command from the Earth, regularly charges the capacitor bank, the discharge initiation system, upon command from the Earth, performs its work properly," the press office said.
The HSE CubeSat 3U space mission is being implemented with the support of the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises as part of the Planet Duty Officer competition. The spacecraft was manufactured by the Sputnix Company (part of the Sitronics Group). Longer tests, allowing for a noticeable orbital maneuver, require updated software of the satellite platform, which is what Sputnix Company engineers are currently doing, the company said.
If orbital maneuvering is successful, the Laser Eye Company, a small enterprise of the Institute for Laser and Plasma Technologies of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, which is responsible for the development of the VERA propulsion system, will begin its batch production next year.
The VERA engine will allow small satellites to occupy and then efficiently maintain the required positions in the orbital plane for a long time. In addition, the plasma engine will help solve the problem of space debris. At the end of their service life, nanosatellites equipped with engines can lower their orbit height on their own, thereby reducing the time before combustion in the upper atmosphere by 2-3 times.