Welcome to the future.
Washington, D.C. – Mar. 24, 2022 – IVO Ltd., the pioneer of capacitive-based technologies, today unveiled the IVO Quantum Drive at SATELLITE 2022. The Quantum Drive is the first pure electric thruster for satellites to use zero fuel while delivering unmatched efficiency, scalability, and capability to the space industry.
Built upon the basis of quantized inertia, the IVO Quantum Drive is the world’s first commercially viable and available pure electric propulsion technology to achieve legitimacy through thermal vacuum testing.
IVO Ltd. worked with E-Labs of Fredericksburg, Virginia, to validate the Quantum Drive under the rigorous environmental conditions encountered in space. The vacuum chamber testing also served to validate thrust produced through quantized inertia.
The IVO Quantum Drive achieved 45 mN of thrust while consuming only a single watt of power and zero fuel. Testing was conducted at 9×10⁻⁶ Torr with temperature cycling from –100°C to 100°C. The thruster performed consistently with no measurable variation in performance.
“The benefits of pure electric thrust technology will be felt across the space industry as a whole. The IVO Quantum Drive makes it possible to measure a spacecraft’s operational lifespan in decades instead of just a few years,” said Daniel Telehey, Chief Operating Officer of IVO Ltd.
“We are particularly excited about the mission capability this technology enables through its drastic reduction in energy requirements,” Telehey added. “The modularity of the IVO Quantum Drive allows for the development of superior spacecraft that are efficient, lightweight, maneuverable, fuel-independent, and—most importantly—cost-effective.”
In 2021, Richard Mansell—CEO and inventor of the IVO Quantum Drive—discovered that pure electric thrust is viable for spacecraft through a combination of mathematical modeling and empirical test data.
“Quantum inertia has been discussed as a theory for several years, so we approached the problem without a theoretical bias,” said Mansell. “We can now say the foundational principles of quantum inertia hold true in test data and remain consistent with quantum, inertial, and gravitational physics.”
Because it uses electricity only and zero fuel, the IVO Quantum Drive produces zero emissions and is fully self-contained. This allows the system to be mounted internally within a spacecraft. Its modular design enables scaling across multiple axes to meet the thrust requirements of a wide range of satellite platforms.
“The dramatic reduction in energy demand enables downsizing of spacecraft solar requirements,” said Paul Cejas, Technology Integration Manager at IVO Ltd. “This allows for smaller form factors, reduced mass, and higher spacecraft density per launch—significantly lowering both development and launch costs.”
IVO Ltd. is scheduled to begin customer development programs starting in Q2 2022.
Welcome to the future.