NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) has successfully deployed at 3:57 a.m. EDT. GPIM will test a “green” alternative to hydrazine, a highly toxic propellant currently used by spacecraft, as well as a new propulsion system. If successful, this low toxicity fuel and system could replace hydrazine in future missions and ease handling during pre-launch processing.
The final NASA payload aboard the Space Test Program-2, hosted by the Air Force Research Lab’s Demonstration and Space Experiments spacecraft, will deploy in about two hours.
For more information on GPIM, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/green/overview.html