Phase Four

Phase Four’s Series B funding will support work on the iodine-fueled version of Maxwell, including a new vacuum chamber dedicated to testing that thruster.

Phase Four raised $26,000,000 in a Series B funding round.

Phase Four won a Small Business Innovation Research award from the U.S. Air Force in April to develop a version of Maxwell that uses iodine as propellant.

Phase Four announced orders in 2019 from Capella Space and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems.

Phase Four had previously raised about $20,000,000 in earlier funding rounds.

Phase Four received a $750,000 Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program to test iodine in a prototype version of its Maxwell thruster.

Phase Four will demonstrate the iodine Maxwell thruster in laboratory testing under its Phase 2 SBIR award and aims to win a larger Phase 3 award to produce a flight-qualified version.

Phase Four is working with NASA to perform lifetime testing of Maxwell and future thrusters using a test chamber at the Glenn Research Center.

Phase Four expects to deliver two to four Maxwell thrusters each quarter in the referenced year, with six to 10 thrusters launched by the end of that year.

Phase Four designed Maxwell to be less expensive and easier to manufacture than alternative electric thrusters.

Phase Four currently produces up to 10 Maxwell thrusters per month and expects to double that production rate by the end of the year using its existing facilities.

Phase Four is working to raise a Series A funding round that will likely include a mix of new partners and investors from its seed round and will be sufficient to fund the company through 2020.

Phase Four completed smaller thruster deals last year with NASA and Earth imaging company Astro Digital.

Laura Overly was hired as Phase Four's supply chain and materials director in June.

Phase Four has conducted flight qualification and testing common among traditional aerospace systems despite its technology not having flown yet.

Beau Jarvis joined Phase Four in September as the chief revenue officer.

NASA plans to test one of Phase Four's thrusters in space.

Phase Four is developing and testing electric thrusters for in-space transportation using radio frequency waves to generate plasma.

Phase Four's propulsion products are suitable for small satellites weighing less than 50 kilograms and larger classes for communications mega-constellations.

The first flight demonstration of Phase Four's thruster is scheduled for later this year on an Astro Digital cubesat.