TAMPA, Fla. — Japanese small satellite thruster developer Pale Blue has raised $7.5 million to determine a mass production facility for its water vapor propulsion systems.
The financing comprises loans and a recently closed Series B round backed by existing investors, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Enterprise Capital and Incubate Fund, the three-year-old University of Tokyo spin-off said Oct. 4
NEDO, a national research and development agency in Japan, has also awarded Pale Blue a grant to research ways to mass produce its technology, covering the event of producing and inspection machines.
Pale Blue said it successfully demonstrated its Resistojet thruster for the primary time in March on a Sony Corp. Star Sphere satellite that launched in January on SpaceX’s Transporter 6 rideshare mission. Star Sphere is a 6U cubesat built by the University of Tokyo around a full-frame Sony camera optimized for photography relatively than science or mapping.
Organising a mass production facility would enable Pale Blue to scale back costs and speed up manufacturing for potential customers it sees in the US, Europe, and Asia.
“The conclusion of a propulsion system for small satellites that uses water as a propellant will contribute to the sustainable development of the space industry,” Pale Blue CEO and co-founder Jun Asakawa said.
He said the enterprise goals to launch mass production inside just a few years but remains to be deciding on the situation of the power and its production capability.
Pale Blue is currently headquartered in Chiba, near Tokyo, and expects to acquire more enterprise funding from a second phase of the Series B round this fall.
The enterprise, which raised $4.1 million in a Series A round in 2021, didn’t give further details concerning the Series B or its ambitions for mass production.
As well as Resistojet, Pale Blue can also be developing an Ion Hall-effect thruster that it expects to succeed in orbit for the primary time by 2025.
The enterprise raised $4.1 million in a Series A round in 2021.