QinetiQ T6
The 22 cm gridded-ion thruster scaled from T5 for BepiColombo's long-duration solar-electric cruise to Mercury.
Identity
- Aliases
- T6 ion thrusterT6 gridded ion thruster
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- model
- Kind
- electric-thruster
- Name
- QinetiQ T6
- Status
- retired
Details
- Description
- The 22 cm gridded-ion thruster scaled from T5 for BepiColombo's long-duration solar-electric cruise to Mercury.
- Electric Specs
- Input Power Kw Max
- 4.5
- Specific Impulse SMax
- 4,300
- Thrust NMax
- 0.145
- Thrust NMin
- 0.075
- First Flight Date
- 2018-10-20
- Lineage
- Note
- ESA describes the 22 cm T6 as a scaled-up successor to the 10 cm T5 gridded-ion thruster for BepiColombo.
- Related Propulsion System
- Relationship
- direct-derivative-of
- Sources
- Nested value
- Nested value
- Propellants
- xenon
- Retirement Date
- 2026-06-15
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 6, 2026 at 16:12:49 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 6, 2026 at 16:16:46 UTC
Other
- Diameter M
- 0.22
- Sources
- Note
- ESA identifies the QinetiQ T5 and T6 gridded-ion thruster heritage and the T6's 22 cm class for BepiColombo.
- Publisher
- European Space Agency
- Title
- Electric blue thrusters propelling BepiColombo to Mercury
- Note
- ESA identifies the integrated T6 electric-thruster installation on BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module.
- Publisher
- European Space Agency
- Title
- Mercury Transfer Module with integrated ion thrusters
- Note
- ESA records the end of BepiColombo solar-electric propulsion operations on 2026-06-15.
- Publisher
- European Space Agency
- Title
- End of the blue glow: BepiColombo turns off solar electric propulsion for Mercury arrival
- Note
- NASA NTRS records the T6 thruster power, thrust, and specific-impulse performance envelope.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- T6 gridded ion thruster performance