Lot Fourteen-based Neumann Space has secured its first commercial sale, with its world-leading propulsion system, the Neumann Drive®, set to be integrated into a US Space Force project.
The USD $1.7 million project led by Colorado-based manufacturer CisLunar Industries is focused on the recycling of metal in space to create metallic fuel for propulsion, in turn enabling enhanced, sustainable satellite mobility.
The Neumann Drive® – a lightweight solar-electric ionic thruster unit designed to be safer, more efficient and easier to operate than other market solutions – was selected for integration due to its unique propulsion technology that uses solid metallic propellant.
Neumann Space’s CEO, Herve Astier, said the team are proud that the company’s propulsion system has been selected for the project.
“Our company’s mission is to enable the sustainable economic development of space, and we are proud that our propulsion system will play a role in this project as it seeks to create the foundations for a new circular economy in space,” said Mr Astier.
“The supply agreement with CisLunar Industries represents the first commercial sale and first export of the Neumann Drive®, and we are confident that this milestone marks the beginning of an accelerated role for our company in providing off-the-shelf, safe and easy-to-integrate electric propulsion systems to improve mobility in space.”
CEO of CisLunar Industries, Gary Calnan, said that as the space domain becomes more contested, the Space Force has a need to be able to manoeuvre assets “without regret”.
“Our Modular Space Foundry and our partners’ capabilities allow us to turn space debris into propellant for the Neumann Drive, which can then be used to retrieve more space debris, support the Space Form SAML (Space Access, Mobility and Logistics) mission, and provide materials for in-space manufacturing and construction,” said Mr Calnan.
“With the Space Force’s foresight to invest in our combined capabilities, what we are creating now lays the foundation for a full-scale industrial economy in space.”
