Specialists from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), together with scientists from MIPT, have developed Russia's first low-power plasma engine using krypton. The unit is designed for high-precision control of satellites in low Earth orbits.
The installation will allow for altitude maintenance maneuvers, evasion of space debris, and controlled deorbiting of the spacecraft at the end of its service life. The engine's resource is at least 7,500 hours of operation in thrust mode, and its total service life in orbit reaches seven years.
The development is based on a Hall-effect plasma engine. An electric field accelerates gas ions, creating reactive thrust. Such systems achieve high speeds with low propellant consumption.
The key advantage is the replacement of expensive and scarce xenon with krypton. In Russia, similar engines traditionally operate only on xenon, the global production of which is only a few tens of tons per year. Krypton is produced in large volumes and is 5–10 times cheaper. As project leader Alexander Bogaty explained, fuel savings make the installation attractive for commercial and government low-orbit constellations.
The transition to krypton is associated with technical difficulties: this gas has a higher ionization energy, making it harder to convert into plasma. Additionally, in low-power installations, it is more challenging to maintain thrust efficiency. However, the need to create inexpensive multi-satellite systems forced developers to look for new solutions. Globally, similar engines are already used by companies like Busek and Astra — they are employed in Starlink satellites.