FOSSA Systems and IENAI Space put the first Spanish satellite with electric propulsion into orbit

TechnologyInternationalXatakaOct 21, 2026, 7:03 AM40 s readAI summary

A 6U satellite built by Spanish company FOSSA Systems was launched on October 20, 2026, from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, as part of the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. It is the first Spanish-built satellite with electric propulsion, the ATHENA NANO system from Madrid-based IENAI Space, based on electrospray. It is the 27th satellite FOSSA has launched since 2020. First ignitions and constellation maneuvers will be tested in the coming days.

In 40 seconds

The 6U satellite from FOSSA Systems flew on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral as part of the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission.
It is the first Spanish-built satellite with electric propulsion, the ATHENA NANO system from IENAI Space.
The propulsion uses electrospray: an electric field pulls ions from a liquid salt to generate thrust.

Read the full story at Xataka

IASummary generated by artificial intelligence from a story by Xataka. It may contain errors: the original source prevails.

espacio
satélites
FOSSA Systems
IENAI Space
SpaceX

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FOSSA Systems and IENAI Space put the first Spanish satellite with electric propulsion into orbit

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