HYDROS Thruster

Completed TRL 8 (started at 5, targeting 8)

Description

The HYDROS project aimed to provide safe, high-performance propulsion for secondary payloads. The propulsion system is launched with only liquid water as the propellant and then uses electrolysis to split the water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen for a simple bipropellant thruster once deployed on-orbit. The HYDROS-C was tested on the Pathfinder Demonstration Technology (PTD)-1 mission. Tethers Unlimited gathered valuable data from the flight to incorporate in future HYDROS-C and its larger HYDROS-M systems. The HYDROS-M system is baselined for several missions including SMD’s Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission.

Benefits

Launching with only unpressurized liquid water as the spacecraft propellant precursor provides safety benefits and risk mitigation which allow the system to be included on CubeSats hosted on a wider variety of missions, including to the ISS and as secondary payloads, while still providing high thrust. The system also provides a potential platform for the future ISRU of water harvested in space for refueling.

Details

Technology area	Propulsion Systems > Chemical Space Propulsion > Earth Storable Propellants
Program	Small Spacecraft Technology (SST)
Lead organization	Tethers Unlimited Inc, Bothell, WA
Start date	2016-01-01
End date	2021-05-21

Project contacts

Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.

Robert Hoyt

How to get involved

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.