Jay GulliSh, director of Space & Telecommunications at Futron, vividly recalls his reaction last year when Boeing made its groundbreaking announcement about launching two satellites with all-electric propulsion for two different customers - Satmex and ABS - in the same slot, on the same rocket. "Innovation and satellite manufacturing are not always words that end up in the same sentence," says Gullish. "Due to the expensive nature, risk aversion and technical complexity, innovation has been fairly slow in satellite communications." One year later, the industry is still optimistic for innovation, but reality has entered the scene. Electric propulsion has a long and successful history regarding station keeping, or keeping the satellite in its position on orbit, but not with orbit raising, when satellites use their own propulsion system to reach orbit after separating from the rocket. Traditionally, more powerful chemical propulsion engines are used to quickly move satellites through Earth's hazardous radiation belt.
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