TILE (Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray) is Accion Systems' modular ion electrospray propulsion system for small satellites, providing efficient, precise thrust using a non-toxic ionic liquid propellant.
TILE
TILE (Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray) is Accion Systems' modular ion electrospray propulsion system for small satellites, providing efficient, precise thrust using a non-toxic ionic liquid propellant.
Description
TILE is Accion Systems' flagship electric propulsion product line, built around Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray technology. Unlike conventional gridded ion or Hall-effect thrusters, TILE extracts thrust-producing ions directly from an inert, non-explosive, non-toxic ionic liquid salt propellant stored in a low-pressure reservoir, eliminating the need for large gas-phase ionization chambers, pressurized propellant tanks, and external cathodes. This allows the thruster chips to be mass-produced using commercial manufacturing processes and tiled together in arrays to multiply thrust or provide redundancy. The product line spans multiple form factors, including TILE 500 (1/3U), TILE 2 (CubeSat-class), and TILE 3 (1U), targeting small satellite operators, constellation builders, and government/defense customers needing station-keeping, orbit-raising, drag compensation, deorbit, and attitude control capability. TILE has flown in space starting with the Irvine01 student CubeSat launched on a Rocket Lab Electron in November 2018, and Accion's next-generation TILE thrusters were later demonstrated on NanoAvionics' D2/Atlacom-1 satellite in 2022, successfully raising the satellite's orbit and correcting for atmospheric drag.
Specifications
| Technology | Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray (TILE) |
|---|---|
| Propellant | Inert, non-explosive, non-toxic ionic liquid salt |
| TILE 500 - Thrust | 150-300 microNewtons at 9 W |
| TILE 500 - Specific Impulse | 1500 s |
| TILE 3 - Max Axial Thrust | 0.45 mN |
| TILE 3 - Specific Impulse | 1650 s |
| TILE 3 - Wet Mass | 1.25 kg |
| TILE 3 - Volume | 1U |
| Flight heritage | First flew on Irvine01 CubeSat (Rocket Lab Electron, Nov 2018); next-gen TILE demonstrated on NanoAvionics D2/Atlacom-1 satellite (2022), raising orbit and correcting drag; contracted for Xplore XLEO and SpaceX rideshare missions |