Family of Hall-effect thrusters operating on gaseous oxygen (WETHET) or water vapour (AquaHET), offering high specific impulse with a fully European supply chain.
URA HET (Hall-effect Thruster) - WETHET / AquaHET
Family of Hall-effect thrusters operating on gaseous oxygen (WETHET) or water vapour (AquaHET), offering high specific impulse with a fully European supply chain.
Description
URA Thrusters is developing a family of Hall-effect thrusters (HET) operating on oxygen (WETHET) or water (AquaHET) propellant. Hall-effect thrusters are the most flown type of electric propulsion, and URA's water/oxygen variants are designed to provide significant cost reductions compared to existing xenon/krypton-based systems while relying on a fully European supply chain.
The HET system architecture comprises five subsystems: the thruster head, a propellant management device, a Power Processing Unit (PPU), a water tank, and an electrolyser unit that splits stored water into oxygen and hydrogen propellant on demand. Key advantages include substantial propellant cost reductions, high specific impulse enabling reduced propellant mass or extended mission durations, simplified handling thanks to water-based propellant storage, high propellant density, and synergistic operation alongside URA's ICE thruster system as part of the modular HYDRA hybrid architecture. Two models are in development: the WETHET-2000 and the higher-power WETHET-5000.
Specifications
| Model | WETHET-2000 |
|---|---|
| Thrust | 48 mN |
| Specific impulse (Isp) | 3000 s |
| Power | 2000 W |
| Propellant | O2/H2 (water/oxygen electrolysis) |
| Market entry | 2026 |
| Model (variant 2) | WETHET-5000 |
| Thrust (variant 2) | 120 mN |
| Specific impulse (variant 2) | 3000 s |
| Power (variant 2) | 5000 W |
| Propellant (variant 2) | O2/H2 (water/oxygen electrolysis) |
| Market entry (variant 2) | 2028 |
