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LAS VEGAS — Dawn Aerospace unveiled a docking and refueling port for the company’s SatDrive propulsion systems.
The Docking and Fluid Transfer port will help Dawn customers gain access to future in-space refueling services. The port replaces standard manual fill and drain valves used for propellant loading on the ground.
The DFT port, which weighs 0.6 kilograms more than the hardware it replaces, can handle pressurized propellants nitrous oxide and propene or ethane. It also serves as a power and data connection.
Dawn will begin providing the DFT port in 2025 as standard equipment for SatDrive customers with propulsion systems of more than 10 kilonewtons.
“With low mass, low risk, and zero cost, we believe it’s getting close to a ‘no brainer’ decision for any Dawn customer who sees value in refueling,” Dawn CEO Stefan Powell said in a statement. “This allows customers to make the leap of faith, even though there are no established refueling services yet.”
Chicken and Egg
It remains unclear how and when in-space refueling will become available.
“There is a long way to go before there is a real business and customers there,” Powell told SpaceNews by email. “This is the first step (in our opinion) to making it at all a financial possibility for commercial space. Who exactly does that refueling is something the market will have to decide once there are customers.”
Dawn supplies nitrous-based satellite propulsion for more than 20 customers. The company currently is producing approximately one propulsion system per week.
“Not all will use the DFT, but if a significant fraction does, we foresee potentially hundreds of refuelable satellites on-orbit by the 2030s,” Powell said. “That will go a long way to establishing a customer base for satellite refueling.”
Debris Removal
In addition to refueling, Dawn’s port is a contact point for debris removal operations in low-Earth orbit. Dawn, based in the Netherlands and New Zealand, is a signatory of the European Space Agency’s Zero Debris Charter.