Benchmark Space Systems, founded in 2017, is a full lifecycle in-space mobility provider that designs and builds propulsion systems for small satellites, offering solutions from mission planning through decommissioning. They provide turn-key chemical, electric, and hybrid propulsion systems for various spacecraft, including CubeSats and OTVs, operating in LEO, GEO, and beyond. Benchmark's products and services support on-orbit services like life extension, collision avoidance, and orbit adjustments, partnering with organizations requiring in-space mobility solutions. They also integrate partner technologies to provide a comprehensive suite of mobility solutions.
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Benchmark’s ASCENT-specific Macaw 22 Newton thrusters can serve ESPA-class satellites and orbital transfer vehicles as main thrusters, attitude control thrusters, or reentry thrusters at the 22 Newton scale.
On 2024-09-04, Benchmark Space Systems won a two-year, $4,900,000 Air Force Research Lab award to further develop non-catalytic 22 Newton-to-100 Newton class propulsion systems using ASCENT monopropellant for government missions.
Kevin DiMarzio is Director of Business Development at Benchmark Space Systems and Ryan McDevitt is Benchmark’s Chief Executive Officer, and both are key members of the team advancing ASCENT viability with support from the $8,400,000 AFRL award.
Benchmark plans to design, build, and test propulsion system prototypes to deliver thrust in the 10- to 500-newton range.
Benchmark Space Systems is developing and testing thrusters for the ASCENT monopropellant.
Benchmark is developing scaled ASCENT propulsion systems capable of delivering thrust in the 10–500 Newton range.
Benchmark will develop ground support equipment for ASCENT missions, initially funded by a separate U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research project grant, to enable safe and reliable pre-launch and on-orbit spacecraft propellant loading.
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Benchmark Space Systems $4,900,000 to develop propulsion systems for the ASCENT monopropellant.
Benchmark is showcasing a chemical plus Hall Effect hybrid propulsion engine at SmallSat 2024, 2024-08-05-8, Booth F148.
The zinc-fueled Hall Effect Thruster plus Benchmark chemical thruster integration provides an additional 15–25% total impulse or mission range compared with the electric-only option.
Benchmark will offer Starlight’s Hall Effect Thruster to extend mission coverage to spacecraft up through 1,000 kg.
BAE Systems designed and built the WFI’s opto-mechanical assembly, including the optical bench, element wheel, thermal control system, and alignment compensation mechanism.
Benchmark Space Systems is shipping more than 50 Xantus electric propulsion thrusters 2024 to meet commercial and government demand.
Benchmark Space Systems launched its first electric propulsion system in space aboard the SpaceX Transporter-10 rideshare mission.
Benchmark Space Systems previously executed a mission launch in January 2023 that did not deploy.
Benchmark’s Xantus MPTs are designed to provide station keeping for cubesats and microsats in the 5 to 250 kg range and precision operations for ESPA-class satellites from 250 to 1,000 kg.
Benchmark is shipping more than 50 Xantus electric propulsion thrusters 2024, with at least ten units allocated to In-Space Missions, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems plc.
The milestone debut of Benchmark Space Systems’ electric propulsion system in space occurred less than eighteen months after Benchmark acquired the metal plasma thruster technology from Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation.
Early in-orbit operations and telemetry from the Xantus system will validate thrust across several power levels and other capabilities that were previously tested at NASA Glenn Research Center and Benchmark’s R&D facility in Pleasanton, California.
Early operations and telemetry from the Xantus system will validate thrust across several power levels and other key capabilities that built on third-party testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Benchmark’s Research and Development facility in Pleasanton, California.