1. Pale Blue confirmed the successful operation of the water resistojet thruster after 2 years in orbit.
2. It is confirmed that the in-orbit performance is stable compared to the 1st operation in March 2023 and ground tests.
3. The warm-up time of the thruster operation was only about 4 minutes.

Pale Blue provides a water resistojet thruster for SPHERE-1 EYE (EYE), a nano-satellite of Sony’s STAR SPHERE Project. EYE was launched in January 2023 and finished the operation in February 2025. Coming close to the end of the satellite’s operation, Pale Blue’s water resistojet thruster was used to monitor its functionality. Pale Blue confirmed the thruster operating soundly two years after the initial operation in orbit. Continuous thrusting operations were completed multiple times without any trouble. This proves the thruster’s quality and reliability in orbit for more than two years.

 

 

Pale Blue confirmed the soundness for all the valves and the heaters. The figure above shows the pressure and temperature records during the operation. The warm-up time was approximately 4 minutes, and a continuous 5-minute operation was conducted while keeping the constant pressure. Based on the satellite angular velocity data, it was confirmed once again that the generated thrust in orbit was well aligned with the ground testing results. No major change in the actuators or the sensors was observed throughout the years in orbit.

As of now, Pale Blue’s water resistojet product line branched out into three classes; PBR-10, PBR-20 and PBR-50, to support a wider range of nanosats and microsats. These systems are already in industrial production and are available for order.

Feel free to contact us here if you would like to learn more or are simply curious about our products.

Contact

Pale Blue

contact@pale-blue.co.jp

About Pale Blue

Pale Blue offers water-based propulsion systems suited for a wide variety of missions for spacecraft ranging from 3U Cubesats to 700 kg satellites. Founded at the University of Tokyo, renowned for its expertise in electric propulsion, Pale Blue has quickly gained global recognition, working with companies and universities worldwide to accelerate satellite operations. Through its innovative propulsion technologies, Pale Blue enables in-space mobility that is core to the space industry.

Explore our products: https://pale-blue.co.jp/product/