Pale Blue Inc., founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the University of Tokyo, is a space-tech company that develops and manufactures water-based propulsion systems for small satellites, ranging from CubeSats to microsats. Their innovative and sustainable thrusters use water as a propellant, offering a safer and more accessible alternative to traditional chemical propellants, for in-space mobility, orbit control and debris mitigation. Pale Blue partners with satellite manufacturers and operators globally and has performed multiple in-orbit demonstrations of its technology. Key products include water ion thrusters and resistojet thrusters.
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Pale Blue was selected for the Ibaraki Prefecture Corporate Location Promotion Subsidy in connection with the opening of the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base.
With the start of operations at the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base, Pale Blue is expanding recruitment for multiple roles in manufacturing and quality assurance.
Pale Blue aims to use the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base to provide mobility technologies that support missions from low Earth orbit to deep space.
Pale Blue consolidated development and production engineering functions with manufacturing and test operations at the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base to accelerate product industrialization and deployment to satellite integrators and operators worldwide.
Pale Blue’s Tsukuba Production Engineering Base is a three-story steel-framed facility in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Pale Blue has established a mass production framework through rigorous quality control and streamlined production processes to keep pace with accelerating demand for satellite propulsion.
Pale Blue brought vacuum chambers and vibration testing tables under one roof at the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base to create a vertically integrated production flow.
Pale Blue was founded in 2020 and develops and manufactures propulsion systems for small satellites.
Pale Blue’s product portfolio includes propulsion systems that have already achieved in-orbit operation.
Pale Blue positions the Tsukuba Production Engineering Base as a global production hub for electric propulsion and other satellite mobility solutions.
MaiaSpace continues to print on Russian paper called Snegurochka with pale blue packaging that features snowy landscapes.
Pale Blue will enter a new business line to provide orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs).
On January 30, Pale Blue was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Space Strategy Fund for the technical development theme “Realizing free movement in space (A): Development of an orbital transfer vehicle.”
Pale Blue aims to provide pinpoint transport to diverse orbits using ultra-small OTVs to address transport needs that large-scale launch transportation cannot fully satisfy.
Pale Blue will begin development of an ultra-small inter-orbit transfer vehicle in partnership with the University of Tokyo.
Pale Blue develops propulsion systems for ultra-small satellites.
Pale Blue published results on January 20 showing that its water ion engine PBI demonstrated performance and start-up capability in space.
PBI is a water ion engine developed by Pale Blue.
Pale Blue's PBH-100 Hall Thruster is a small, instantly deployable thruster scheduled for in-orbit demonstration in 2027.
Pale Blue and Accel Space signed a contract on December 16 for providing on-orbit demonstration services.