Busek Co. Inc., founded in 1985, is an American aerospace manufacturer specializing in high-performance electric propulsion systems for spacecraft. They are a leading source of advanced electric propulsion thrusters like Hall-effect thrusters, electrospray thrusters and RF ion engines, providing these for military, government, and commercial satellites. Busek's thrusters have been used on missions with NASA (including the Artemis program), ESA, the US Air Force, and OneWeb, and they partner with organizations like Maxar and Moog. Associated keywords include electric propulsion, space propulsion, thrusters, and satellite technology.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Busek developed and deployed the first electrospray thruster in space.
Busek develops Hall-effect thrusters designed to balance high specific impulse with excellent thrust-to-power.
Busek’s flight heritage began in 2006 with a 200 W Hall thruster on TacSat-2.
Busek Space and Propulsion Systems is a US-based space company that develops propulsion systems for spacecraft.
LunaH-Map’s thruster is a BIT-3 from Busek that uses iodine as propellant.
LunaH-Map’s primary propulsion system is an electric thruster called BIT-3 manufactured by Busek that uses solid iodine as propellant.
The OneWeb satellites launched in December and January provide flight heritage for Busek’s BHT-350 solar electric propulsion systems.
Busek possesses vacuum facilities and diagnostic equipment to both build thrusters in high quantities and test them.
Busek is producing 6-kilowatt Hall-effect thrusters for the NASA lunar Gateway Power and Propulsion Element being built by Maxar Technologies.
Busek completed on-orbit commissioning of its BHT-350 Hall-effect thrusters on 80 OneWeb satellites launched in December and January on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, reported on 2023-02-06.
Busek is operating at a production rate of over 20 thrusters per month with 100 percent hot-fire acceptance testing.
LunaH-Map is equipped with a BIT-3 ion thruster from Busek that uses solid iodine fuel.
OneWeb Satellites pivoted from electric propulsion systems imported from Russia’s Fakel to thrusters supplied by U.S.-based Busek Co.
Busek’s product line includes miniature electrospray thrusters based on technology developed with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder mission launched in 2015.
Busek is producing 6-kilowatt Hall-effect thrusters for the NASA lunar Gateway Power and Propulsion Element being built by Maxar Technologies.
Busek acquired a 1,022-square-meter facility this summer, bringing the company’s total offices, laboratory, and manufacturing space to nearly 4,645 square meters.
Busek is supplying BHT-350 Hall thrusters to Florida-based Airbus OneWeb Satellites.
The integrated 6 kW SEP system tested for PPE is 30% more powerful than any SEP system previously flown by Maxar or Busek.
The end-to-end hot fire test campaign was completed at Busek’s facilities in Natick, Massachusetts.
Maxar Technologies and Busek Co. completed an end-to-end hot fire test campaign validating all major elements of a 6 kW solar electric propulsion subsystem designed for the Power and Propulsion Element.