Apollo Fusion to operate the orbital Sherpa-LTE of space flight



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Apollo Fusion, Inc. has been selected as the electric propulsion system for Spaceflight Inc.’s Sherpa-LTE. The Sherpa-LTE is a high specific impulse (Isp) electric propulsion orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), xenon propellant. It is based on Spaceflight’s Sherpa-NG program by incorporating Apollo Constellation Engine (ACE), a low-thrust, high-efficiency, radiation-hardened Hall propulsion system developed by Apollo Fusion, Inc.

Because ACE systems are capable of generating more than 6 kilometers per second of delta-V, Sherpa-LTE now has the ability to provide customers with GEO, Cislunar or Earth escape orbits. Sherpa-LTE provides a low-cost alternative to purchasing direct injection launch vehicles and will extend the ability of the small launch vehicles currently under development to reach beyond low earth orbit. The Sherpa-LTE is expected to fly in mid-2021.

Apollo CEO Mike Cassidy noted, “We are thrilled to partner with Spaceflight Inc. to provide the significant delta-V needed by Sherpa-LTE to bring Spaceflight Inc. customers to their final orbits in LEO, GEO and beyond.”

“We have a successful track record of developing and deploying spacecraft from space vehicles,” added Curt Blake, president and CEO of Spaceflight. “And we are delighted to have Apollo’s high-performance propulsion system on board to help our customers reach target orbits efficiently and reliably.”

Apollo Fusion, Inc. designs and builds state-of-the-art Hall propulsion propulsion systems for a variety of government and commercial satellite programs. The Apollo team members have extremely deep aerospace experience and over the course of their careers they have designed and built systems that are flying over 1,000 satellites that are in orbit today.

Apollo has developed the ability to supply dozens of propulsion systems each month to meet the current strong market demand. Apollo raised nearly $ 25 million in funding. Apollo’s founder and CEO is Mike Cassidy. Mike is a serial entrepreneur with four previous successful startups. Mike was previously Vice President of Google, where he led Project Loon, a high-flying telecommunications system.

Related links

Apollo Fusion

Rocket Science News on Space-Travel.Com



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