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Benchmark timelines for the reusable launch vehicle indicate advancements in design and technology integration.
Benchmark is developing scaled ASCENT propulsion systems capable of delivering thrust in the 10–500 Newton range.
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.
Benchmark plans to design, build, and test propulsion system prototypes to deliver thrust in the 10- to 500-newton range.
The September 2024 award is Benchmark’s fourth government ASCENT development award in four years, bringing Benchmark’s ASCENT-related award total to $8,400,000.
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.
Benchmark Space Systems is developing and testing thrusters for the ASCENT monopropellant.
Benchmark will deliver preliminary designs for a larger 100 Newton thruster assembly in 2024 and will build and test prototypes to meet demand for scaled ASCENT propulsion systems.
The two-year AFRL award announced on 2024-09-05 covers development of Benchmark 22-newton to 100-newton propulsion systems for ASCENT.
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Benchmark Space Systems $4,900,000 to develop propulsion systems for the ASCENT monopropellant.
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 is showcasing a chemical plus Hall Effect hybrid propulsion engine at SmallSat 2024, 2024-08-05-8, Booth F148.
Benchmark will offer Starlight’s Hall Effect Thruster to extend mission coverage to spacecraft up through 1,000 kg.
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 Space Systems is shipping more than 50 Xantus electric propulsion thrusters 2024 to meet commercial and government demand.
Benchmark Space Systems previously executed a mission launch in January 2023 that did not deploy.
Benchmark Space Systems launched its first electric propulsion system in space aboard the SpaceX Transporter-10 rideshare mission.
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.
Benchmark’s propulsion platforms are designed to provide speed, endurance, precision maneuvering, and deorbit capabilities across multiple orbits and mission profiles.