OKB Fakel (part of NPO Energomash JSC of the Roscosmos State Corporation) is preparing to modernize production, repair workshops and purchase new equipment. This is necessary for organizing the mass production of SPD-70M stationary plasma engines. Such engines can be installed both on domestic satellites of the «Sphere» group and on others.
To this end, Gennady Abramenkov, Director of OKB Fakel JSC, and Kirill Lilo, Director of the My Business Center for Entrepreneurship Support of the Kaliningrad Region, signed a targeted loan agreement. The loan amount is not specified.
The funds received will be used for the acquisition and commissioning of specialized technological equipment, as well as the technical re-equipment of the machining area. All these measures will make it possible to establish mass production of SPD-70M engines, taking into account the increased market needs, will ensure high precision in the manufacture of parts, components and assemblies, thereby improving the quality of products.
SPD-70M is a stationary plasma engine created by OKB Fakel. It operates on xenon and krypton in the power range from 300 to 1200 W. The service life of such an engine is more than 9 thousand hours.
When designing the engine, OKB Fakel worked with the Keldysh State Research Center for the first time. Its specialists developed a cathode compensator with an emitter made of porous tungsten impregnated with barium compounds. Engine tests were carried out in the spring of 2023, and they showed that the SPD-70M meets all the requirements for creating multi-satellite constellations and is suitable for Sphere satellites.
SPD-70M is not the only Russian engine for satellites on xenon and krypton, which is being developed for small spacecraft and the «Sphere» project. The KM-55 plasma engine is already undergoing testing.
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