NASA reports that a team at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has finished a demanding series of environmental and physical tests on a new CubeSat. The satellite is now being prepared for launch.
The mission is built around dual-mode propulsion. Spacecraft usually carry volatile propellants and use separate, bulky hardware for different kinds of maneuvers. This design aims to handle those tasks with a single, more compact system.
According to the agency, the goal is to make spaceflight safer and simpler. If the approach works in orbit, it could help future small satellites carry more capable propulsion without the mass and complexity of several separate systems.
