Over the past decade, satellites have undergone a radical transformation. Massive, bus-sized spacecraft are being replaced by constellations of small, fast, and affordable satellites. Smallsats are no longer a fringe category, they now define the industry.
In 2024 alone, over 2,790 Smallsats were launched, representing 97% of all satellites sent to orbit.
But while we’ve dramatically downsized satellite platforms, one critical system hasn’t kept up: propulsion.
**Number of SmallSats launched per year**
Most traditional propulsion systems were built for larger satellites with ample power, volume, and thermal capacity. Today’s smallsats operate with far tighter power and volume constraints, leaving many without viable propulsion at all. That limits mission lifetime, applications, orbit control, regulatory compliance and makes Very low earth orbit
Orbital dynamics are becoming more complex. Rideshare launches, and in-orbit servicing missions demand agile orbital transfer, station keeping, and autonomous repositioning capabilities, functions that are simply not viable today without compact, high-efficiency propulsion.
Nowhere is this bottleneck more visible, and more promising, than in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). Flying below ~450 km offers breakthrough advantages: higher imaging resolution, stronger RF links, and lower latency. But these orbits also suffer from extreme atmospheric drag. Without propulsion systems capable of operating continuously at low power, VLEO becomes a dead end.
That’s changing. The convergence of policy pressure, operator demand, and new technology pathways is opening the door to truly persistent VLEO operations, if propulsion can catch up.
