Advanced Electric Propulsion System
AEPS is NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Hall-current electric propulsion development for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. The published 12 kW, 0.588 N thrust and 2740 s specific-impulse figures refer to one thruster’s acceptance-test operating point, not the combined output of PPE’s three planned AEPS flight thrusters. NASA’s 2025 overview reports continuing qualification; the propulsion record remains in development.
Identity
- Aliases
- AEPSAdvanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS)
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- integrated-system
- Kind
- integrated-propulsion-system
- Name
- Advanced Electric Propulsion System
- Status
- development
Details
- Description
- AEPS is NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Hall-current electric propulsion development for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. The published 12 kW, 0.588 N thrust and 2740 s specific-impulse figures refer to one thruster’s acceptance-test operating point, not the combined output of PPE’s three planned AEPS flight thrusters. NASA’s 2025 overview reports continuing qualification; the propulsion record remains in development.
- Developers
- Electric Specs
- Input Power Max
- …
- Specific Impulse Max
- …
- Thrust Max
- …
- Lineage
- Note
- AEPS is directly based on NASA's HERMeS design, while its magnetic shielding was first demonstrated by Aerojet Rocketdyne and JPL on BPT-4000/XR-5; this is a technology-heritage edge, not whole-system direct derivation.
- Related Propulsion System
- Relationship
- technology-derived-from
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-07-29
- Note
- Supports AEPS descent through HERMeS and the narrower magnetic-shielding heritage first demonstrated on BPT-4000/XR-5.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- 13kW Advanced Electric Propulsion Flight System
- Note
- The AEPS Hall thruster is based directly on the NASA Glenn/JPL HERMeS design. AEPS also includes its power processor, xenon flow controller and harnessing, so this edge describes thruster technology heritage of the integrated system.
- Related Propulsion System
- Relationship
- technology-derived-from
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-10-29
- Note
- Section II identifies the AEPS thruster as based on HERMeS; the complete EP string includes PPU, XFC and associated harnessing.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- 13kW Advanced Electric Propulsion Flight System Development and Qualification
- Manufacturers
- Propellants
- xenon
Links
- Official Url
- https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250008681
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 29, 2026 at 22:19:40 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 15:12:28 UTC
- Image
- Download
Other
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-21
- Note
- NASA's NTRS record documents acceptance testing of AEPS qualification and flight thrusters; this supports the hardware-verification stage without implying that the system is already operational on Gateway.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Acceptance Testing of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System Qualification and Flight Thrusters
- Accessed Date
- 2026-10-17
- Note
- Table 1 (PDF p.5) reports average per-thruster acceptance-test performance: at 12 kW, 588 mN thrust and 2740 s specific impulse. These measurements are not the combined output of the three flight thrusters planned for PPE. Qualification continues; the values are not a flown-spacecraft result.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) 12kW Hall Current Thruster Program Overview
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-21
- Note
- NASA reports three 12 kW AEPS thrusters manufactured by L3Harris and being prepared for installation on Gateway's Power and Propulsion Element; this is current flight-hardware evidence, not an assertion that the spacecraft is already operational.
- Publisher
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Title
- NASA Starts Up Gateway's Power System for First Time