Plugim

Plugim is Xiroi Aerospace’s core product: a compact micropropulsion system that tightly packs several electrospray emitter sources using a reliable, fully scalable manufacturing technique. The propellant feeding system and emitter-extractor geometries are purpose-designed to deliver high efficiency and high specific-impulse (Isp) performance in a very small package suitable for CubeSat integration.

Unlike many competing electrospray thruster designs, Xiroi’s system does not require high-frequency polarisation switching to operate, which the company states reduces electronics complexity, power draw, and failure points. The propulsion module is built around three main sub-assemblies: a Thruster Unit, a Fuel Management subsystem, and a Power Processing Unit (PPU), integrated into a compact envelope.

The system targets low-thrust, high-specific-impulse operation – well suited to orbit-raising, station-keeping, deorbiting, and formation-flying maneuvers on 3U-class and larger CubeSats – while keeping total wet mass and power consumption low enough to fit typical smallsat power and mass budgets.