ASCENT

Jake Teufert is Chief Technology Officer of Benchmark Space Systems and leads development of ASCENT thruster technology designed to provide high-thrust scalability for DoD dynamic space operations.

Under the AFRL-funded program, Benchmark Space Systems is building a 22 Newton thruster for ASCENT hot-fire demonstrations.

Benchmark Space Systems is building a flight-like, 22 Newton thruster to perform advanced ASCENT hot-fire demonstrations under the AFRL-funded program.

Benchmark is building a flight-like 22 Newton thruster to perform advanced ASCENT hot-fire demonstrations under the AFRL-funded program.

The 110-newton thruster is the highest thrust class ASCENT-based thruster ordered to date.

Ascent’s photovoltaic products were evaluated on the International Space Station.

Ascent’s photovoltaic products were previously evaluated on the International Space Station.

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.

Modules tested on NASA’s MISSE-X experiment validated the resilience of Ascent's CIGS material in the space environment.

Phase Four won a contract on 2021-08-18 at the U.S. Space Force’s first SpaceWERX Pitch Day to fuel its Maxwell engine with the green propellant ASCENT developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

The RF thruster demonstration using ASCENT was conducted under a U.S. Space Force contract awarded at the 2021 Space Force Pitch Day.

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight cubesat launched in 2022 was powered by ASCENT.

Benchmark Space Systems received a two-year, $2,810,000 Air Force Research Laboratory SPRINT award to further develop and test flight-optimized thrusters running on ASCENT fuel.

Benchmark Space Systems received a two-year, $2,810,000 AFRL SPRINT award to develop and test flight-optimized thrusters running on ASCENT fuel.

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.

Benchmark is developing scaled ASCENT propulsion systems capable of delivering thrust in the 10–500 Newton range.

Phase Four will supply the electric propulsion component in operational ground demonstrations of both ASCENT and hydrazine-based multi-mode systems by the end of 2025-01-01.

Phase Four will supply the electric propulsion component in operational ground demonstrations of both ASCENT and hydrazine-based multi-mode systems by the end of 2025-01-01.