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Orbion Space Technology is a company that looks to provide small satellites with electric propulsion technologies. The company was founded by Jason Sommerville and Lyon King, in 2017, in Houghton, Michigan, United States.
The company looks to introduce propulsion and space-based technologies for geostationary Earth orbits, deep space, low-Earth orbit, the surface of Mars on asteroids and comets. The company looks to offer their own Hall-Effect Thruster (HET) technologies which utilize electric propulsion. The company provides their Orbion Aurora propulsion system to private small-satellite owners and operators.
Orbion Space Technology's HET uses a type of ion, or plasma in order to accelerate the propellant through an electric field. The ions are held within a magnetic field until the electrons ionize the propellant. With Aurora they utilize Xenon or Krypton gas in order to create ionized plasma. This electrostatic force accelerates the ions to exhaust velocities of 20,000 meters per second.