An Accion Systems electric propulsion system. Photo: Accion Systems.

Accion Systems will host its propulsion system, TILE 3, onboard a NanoAvionics rideshare mission. Accion Systems procured this flight as part of a U.S. government-sponsored propulsion program, and launch is expected in late 2021.

The nanosatellite for the rideshare mission is based on the NanoAvionics M6P bus and will include several customer payloads that can fit the 4U payload volume. The rideshare mission is the fourth in a series of NanoAvionics rideshare missions and will be arranged by NanoAvionics US.

As part of the mission, NanoAvionics will take care of all aspects related to the satellite mission from payload integration, performance testing, and spacecraft registration to launch and logistics, frequencies allocation, spacecraft commissioning and payload on-orbit operations.

“Accion Systems’ TILE 3 is a revolutionary propulsion technology and NanoAvionics is looking forward to putting it through its paces in orbit,” said F. Brent Abbott, CEO of NanoAvionics US. “When flight proven, the TILE 3 system will make a great additional propulsion option to the NanoAvionics line of satellite buses.”