SPT-140
SPT-140 is a xenon Hall-effect thruster manufactured by Fakel EDB and integrated with Maxar power-processing hardware for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. Psyche carries four thrusters and operates one at a time. Qualification work examined 0.9–4.5 kW operation as solar power decreases along the interplanetary trajectory; measured ground-test thrust also depends on vacuum-chamber background pressure. The mission press kit gives up to 240 mN thrust, while JPL’s October 2026 operations report rounds the capability to 250 mN. Psyche began nearly continuous thrusting on 28 September 2026, with roughly 90% thrust duty planned through arrival. Reaction wheels absorb the small swirl torque produced by the ion plume; periodic differently directed firings remove accumulated momentum.
Identity
- Aliases
- SPT-140SPT 140
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- model
- Kind
- electric-thruster
- Name
- SPT-140
- Status
- active
Details
- Description
- SPT-140 is a xenon Hall-effect thruster manufactured by Fakel EDB and integrated with Maxar power-processing hardware for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. Psyche carries four thrusters and operates one at a time. Qualification work examined 0.9–4.5 kW operation as solar power decreases along the interplanetary trajectory; measured ground-test thrust also depends on vacuum-chamber background pressure. The mission press kit gives up to 240 mN thrust, while JPL’s October 2026 operations report rounds the capability to 250 mN. Psyche began nearly continuous thrusting on 28 September 2026, with roughly 90% thrust duty planned through arrival. Reaction wheels absorb the small swirl torque produced by the ion plume; periodic differently directed firings remove accumulated momentum.
- Electric Specs
- Input Power Max
- …
- Input Power Min
- …
- Thrust Max
- …
- Propellants
- xenon
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 30, 2026 at 19:52:44 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 15:49:59 UTC
Other
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-07-29
- Note
- Identifies SPT-140 as the primary Hall-thruster model for Psyche electric propulsion.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Electric Propulsion for the Psyche Mission: Development Activities and Status
- Accessed Date
- 2026-07-29
- Note
- Identifies Fakel EDB as the SPT-140 thruster producer and distinguishes the thruster from the SSL power-processing subsystem.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- The Effects of Background Pressure on SPT-140 Thruster Performance
- Accessed Date
- 2026-07-29
- Note
- Separates Fakel as the SPT-140 thruster manufacturer from Maxar as the power-processing-unit manufacturer.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- The NEXT-C Power Processing Unit: Lessons Learned
- Accessed Date
- 2026-07-29
- Note
- Identifies the SPT-140 Hall-effect thruster as the Psyche flight thruster and records Maxar/SSL propulsion hardware context.
- Publisher
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Title
- NASA Glenn Tests Thruster Bound for Metal World
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- JPL's current Psyche spacecraft reference reports that one of the four Hall thrusters can provide up to 240 millinewtons of thrust during the mission.
- Publisher
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Title
- Psyche Spacecraft
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-22
- Note
- NASA's SPT-140 qualification-model report identifies 0.9–4.5 kW as the power range of interest for the Psyche mission; those bounds are normalized into inputPowerKwMin and inputPowerKwMax.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- The Effects of Background Pressure on SPT-140 Thruster Performance at Multiple Power Levels
- Accessed Date
- 2026-10-29
- Note
- 22 October 2026 operations report: one of four thrusters operates at a time, solar-power-driven throttling and swirl torque momentum management. Up to 250 mN reported here versus 240 mN in the press kit; retained structured 240 mN as the existing documented mission rating.
- Publisher
- NASA/JPL-Caltech
- Title
- Pedal to the Metal: NASA’s Psyche Heads Toward Asteroid Belt