Pale Blue Inc. (Pale Blue) will demonstrate the world-first, 1U+, Water Ion Thruster (PBI) on D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier twice during 2025.
By adding space heritage multiple times, Pale Blue will diversify its offering to better meet the rising demand of on-orbit control and debris mitigation for small satellite missions with its specifications, as compared to the conventional propulsion systems.
Orbit control plays a crucial role for satellites to provide consistent service. In addition to orbit maneuvering, there is a surging demand to mitigate space debris by de-orbiting and collision avoidance, and an increasing number of small satellites are equipped with propulsion systems. Pale Blue’s 1U+ Water Ion Thruster (PBI) is a fully integrated propulsion system with its outstanding total impulse achieving 7,000 Ns, which makes it one of the highest options on market under this form factor.
By using water as a propellant, the propulsion system has a number of additional advantages such as safety, ease of handling as well as propellant availability. Furthermore, this compact system is clusterable to meet a wider range of satellite missions.
The contract with D-Orbit includes two launch opportunities and operation respectively onboard D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier, a space vehicle that has demonstrated its versatility through 14 successful missions that performed multiple satellite deployment, hosted payload operations, and in-orbit demonstrations. The on-orbit demonstration mission is scheduled to launch in June and October of 2025.
Jun Asakawa (Pale Blue), Renato Panesi (D-Orbit) said, “We are incredibly excited to conduct in-orbit demonstration of the world-first water-based ion thruster that is innovative and sustainable propulsion solutions to the space industry,” said Jun Asakawa, Co-founder and CEO at Pale Blue. By partnering with D-Orbit, we are taking a significant step forward in validating the performance and reliability of our propulsion technology. This collaboration will enable us to meet the growing demand, while contributing to space sustainability. We are confident that our water-based propulsion system will redefine the future of satellite missions and open up new possibilities for space exploration.”
“Water-based propulsion technology perfectly aligns with D-Orbit’s commitment to sustainable space operations,” said Renato Panesi, co-founder and CCO at D-Orbit. “Drawing on our extensive experience in successful in-orbit demonstrations and the proven versatility of ION Satellite Carrier, we are happy to support Pale Blue in advancing their innovative propulsion solution.”
“This contract with Pale Blue marks an exciting first step in D-Orbit’s journey into the Japanese market, and we are thrilled to support the validation of such a pioneering propulsion technology,” said Ash Takao, Sales Development Manager for D-Orbit and member of Marubeni Corporation, one of D-Orbit’s main investors. “As our first collaboration with a Japanese company, this contract highlights our commitment to strengthening ties within Japan’s advanced space sector and expanding D-Orbit’s reach in the Asia-Pacific region.”
About Pale Blue
Pale Blue offers water-based propulsion systems suited for a wide variety of missions for spacecraft ranging from 3U Cubesats to 700 kg satellites. Founded at the University of Tokyo, renowned for its expertise in electric propulsion, Pale Blue has quickly gained global recognition, working with companies and universities worldwide to accelerate satellite operations. Through its innovative propulsion technologies, Pale Blue enables in-space mobility that is core to the space industry.
About D-Orbit
D-Orbit is a market leader in the space logistics and transportation services industry with a track record of space-proven services, technologies, and successful missions. Founded in 2011, D-Orbit is the first company addressing the logistics needs of the space market. ION Satellite Carrier, for example, is a space vehicle that can transport satellites on-orbit and release them individually into distinct orbital slots, reducing the time from launch to operations by up to 85% and the launch costs of an entire satellite constellation by up to 40%. ION can also accommodate multiple third-party payloads like innovative technologies developed by startups, experiments from research entities, and instruments from traditional space companies requiring a test in orbit. The whole, fully redundant ION can be rented for edge computing applications and space cloud services to provide satellite operators with storage capacity and advanced computing capabilities on-orbit.