Orbital ATK has signed an agreement with Swedish green propulsion technology firm ECAPS to fully develop, demonstrate and market a high performance green propulsion (HPGP) system.

The HPGP system, which is claimed to offer significant cost advantages and dramatically reduce the environmental risks associated with traditional monopropellants, is aimed at both attitude control and main propulsion.

Orbital ATK’s team will leverage exclusive use of ECAPS’ LMP-103S, a very-low toxicity monopropellant technology designed as a direct replacement for hydrazine-based systems. According to Orbital ATK, LMP-103S offer significantly higher specific impulse and density, meaning greater performance and lower volume.

It is also described as a low-toxicity, environmentally-benign propellant, providing enhanced safety and health benefits over conventional hydrazine. It offers the promise of propellant loading prior to satellite transport and considerably lower logistics cost.

The partnership continues Orbital ATK’s commitment to HPGP technology, which includes scaling up the blending of LMP-103S, successful tests of 5 and 22 Newton thrusters, and supporting several Small Business Innovation Research programmes.

Founded in 2000, ECAPS — a subsidiary of SSC (Swedish Space Corporation) — is focused on green propulsion-based products for space applications. The company holds a number of patents worldwide for a family of ammonium dinitramide-based propellants, catalyst, thruster design and manufacturing methods.