Busek

Key takeaways

Busek belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Busek to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Busek from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Busek Company Incorporated is an American spacecraft propulsion company that builds thrusters, electronics, and various systems for spacecraft.

History Busek was founded in 1985 by Vlad Hruby in Natick, Massachusetts. Busek started as a laboratory outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

Flight missions

TacSat-2

The first US Hall thruster flown in space, Busek's BHT-200, was launched aboard the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) TacSat-2 satellite. The Busek thruster was part of the Microsatellite Propulsion Integration (MPI) Experiment and was integrated on TacSat-2 under the direction of the DoD Space Test Program. TacSat-2 launched on December 16, 2006 from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility.

LISA Pathfinder The first electrospray thruster that made it to space was manufactured by Busek and launched aboard the European Space Agency's LISA Pathfinder satellite on December 3, 2015. The micro-newton colloid-style electric thruster was developed under contract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA ST-7 Program) and part of NASA's Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), which serves a critical role in the LISA Pathfinder science mission.

AEHF Aerojet, under license with Busek, manufactured the 4 kW Hall thruster (the BPT-4000) which was flown aboard the USAF AEHF communications spacecraft.

OneWeb In 2023, Busek announced the successful on-orbit commissioning of its BHT-350 Hall-effect thrusters on 80 OneWeb satellites, launched in December 2022 and January 2023 on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. The new OneWeb communications satellites use the thrusters for orbit-raising, station-keeping, collision avoidance and de-orbiting at the conclusion of each satellite’s mission.

Contracts

NASA Busek will be providing Hall thrusters for NASA's Artemis Program. As part of the Power and Propulsion Element, Busek's 6 kW Hall thrusters will work in combination with NASA's Advanced Electric Propulsion System to provide orbit-raising and station-keeping capabilities for the Lunar Gateway. The Lunar Gateway's polar near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) will require periodic orbit adjustment, and electric propulsion will use solar energy for this task.

Research and development

Propulsion

Busek has demonstrated experimental xenon Hall thrusters at power levels exceeding 20kW. Busek has also developed Hall thrusters that operate on iodine, bismuth, carbon dioxide, magnesium, zinc, and other substances. An iodine fueled 200 W Busek Hall thruster will fly on NASA's iSat (Iodine Satellite) mission. Busek is also preparing a 600 Watt iodine Hall thruster system for future Discovery Class missions. Other publicized Busek technologies include RF ion engines and a resistojet rocket. Another focus is CubeSat propulsion, proposed for the 2018 Lunar IceCube mission. As of July 2012, Busek was working on a DARPA-funded program called DARPA Phoenix, which aimed to recycle some parts of on-orbit spacecraft. In September 2013, NASA awarded an 18‑month Phase I contract to Busek to develop an experimental concept called a High Aspect Ratio Porous Surface (HARPS) microthruster system for use in tiny CubeSat spacecraft. In March 2021, Busek and Maxar Technologies completed an end-to-end hot fire test campaign validating the 6-kilowatt solar electric propulsion (SEP) subsystem for the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) of NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit.

Orbital Debris Remover (ORDER) In order to deal with space debris, Busek proposed in 2014 a remotely controlled vehicle to rendezvous with this debris, capture it, and attach a smaller deorbit satellite to the debris. The remotely controlled vehicle would then drag the debris/smallsat-combination, using a tether, to the desired location. The larger satellite would then tow the debris/smallsat combination to either deorbit or move it to a higher graveyard orbit by means of electric propulsion. The larger satellite, named the Orbital Debris Remover, or ORDER, would carry over 40 SUL (Satellite on an Umbilical Line) deorbit satellites and sufficient propellant for a large number of orbital maneuvers required to effect a 40-satellite debris removal mission over many years. Busek projected the cost for such a space tug to be US$80 million.

See also AEHF – Series of American military communications satellites FalconSAT-3 – Small satellite project of the United States Air Force Academy FalconSAT-5 – Satellite launched in 2010Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets (USA-221) LISA Pathfinder – 2015 European Space Agency spacecraft Lunar IceCube – Nanosatellite launched in 2022 TacSat-2 – US military satellite OneWeb – Global communications companyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Busek

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Busek claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Busek before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Busek ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Busek

In research: Busek appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Busek in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Busek is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1985 establishments in Massachusetts, Spacecraft propulsion, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Busek outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Busek in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Busek means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Busek out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Busek in simple terms?

Busek Company Incorporated is an American spacecraft propulsion company that builds thrusters, electronics, and various systems for spacecraft. History Busek was founded in 1985 by Vlad Hruby in Natick, Massachusetts.

Why does Busek matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Busek?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Busek.