ODYSSEUS SPACE Teams With National Cheng Kung University on ARGO Pulse Plasma Thruster Propulsion System

TAINAN, Taiwan, December 26th 2018 (ODYSSEUS SPACE PR) – ODYSSEUS SPACE, a Taiwanese company developing innovative space technologies for small satellites, today announced a collaboration with NCKU, one of the leading engineering university in Taiwan and located in Tainan.

This joint R&D project for a total amount of 4.5M NTD [$146,711], funded by both ODYSSEUS Space and the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) through the New SBIR program, is following a pre-study phase successfully delivered in 2018 and now aims at developing and testing a first prototype of an electrical propulsion system for small satellites.

“We are very glad to have concluded this partnership with NCKU,” said Jordan Vannitsen, CEO of ODYSSEUS SPACE. “I have myself graduated from NCKU and I know first-hand the level of expertise we can expect, as well as the access to top-level facilities. We are very excited to start this project, as this is a first step toward more collaboration between the Space private industry and universities in Taiwan on innovative technologies for space applications. This is a model we want to keep developing.”

“There is strong interest for this kind of compact and innovative propulsion systems from the small satellite community, including ourselves. We want to investigate whether this technology, which can achieve fine attitude control, could be part of our long-term plan of prospecting asteroids for space resources exploitation and utilization. Whatever the outcome, it is already important for us to set up this kind of partnership on small-scale projects in order to pave the way for larger ones, involving multiple international partners. This is a first trial for our R&D activities in Taiwan related to propulsion systems and we are very hopeful it will lead to many more. We are already in discussion with other universities on some other collaborations.”

ODYSSEUS SPACE was created in 2016 in Taiwan by international space experts with complementary backgrounds from space agencies, space industry and space research laboratories. ODYSSEUS SPACE is playing a major role in enhancing and facilitating international cooperation between Asia and the rest of the world in order to bring together innovative concepts and technologies and to push back the boundaries of what is currently feasible with nanosatellite missions.

About ODYSSEUS Space, Inc.

ODYSSEUS is a young startup created by French Professionals coming from the European Space sector and implemented in Taiwan since 2016. ODYSSEUS is using its experience and expertise both in Asia and in Europe to address the booming global market of small satellites applications. ODYSSEUS long-term goal is to develop innovative technologies to unlock new possibilities and significantly increase what is feasible to achieve at an affordable cost in Space, and to move toward a sustainable Space exploration where most of the resources would be available and used in-situ. This why ODYSSEUS is investing in technologies such as optical communication systems, compact and efficient propulsion systems as well as autonomous navigation for satellites to support the global NewSpace effort. The company, who won the 2018 SpaceResources.lu Exploration Masters competition from the Luxembourg Space Agency, has started the process of relocating their headquarters from Taiwan to Luxembourg but will keep developing its activities in Taiwan and the rest of Asia.

Visit ODYSSEUS Space, Inc. online at https://www.odysseus.space.