Benchmark Awarded NASA Phase II SBIR to Advance Aquila Hybrid Transfer Stage for Small Spacecraft High-Energy Missions

August 26, 2025

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Benchmark has been awarded a NASA Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to advance development of our Aquila Small Spacecraft Transfer Stage (SSTS), a low-cost, small spacecraft compatible solution engineered for delivery of payloads to high-energy orbits, including lunar destinations.

Designed to bridge the accessibility gap between common launch insertion points and mission-critical orbits, Aquila combines Benchmark’s flight-proven high-test peroxide (HTP) bipropellant propulsion with an electric Hall-Effect Thruster resulting in a versatile low-cost, scalable transfer stage. The platform integrates  proprietary control electronics, to deliver precise autonomous mobility in space.

The Aquila system is capable of delivering over 50 kg of payload to low lunar orbit (LLO) from a circular low Earth orbit (LEO), and is reconfigurable to trade chemical for electric propulsion depending on mission needs, enabling flexibility in mass, volume, and delta-V profiles.

“Winning Phase II positions Aquila as a game-changer for small satellite missions requiring access to orbits previously dominated by larger, costlier spacecraft,” said Ryan McDevitt, Benchmark’s Chief Technology Officer. “By combining high-thrust and high-endurance technologies with a modular, launch-agnostic design, Aquila opens new doors for both commercial and government customers targeting destinations from GEO to the Moon.”

Most Aquila subsystems are already at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 6–9 or are commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS), streamlining the path toward critical design, qualification, and flight infusion by 2026/2027. The Phase II effort will mature Aquila to a flight-ready system architecture, complete with qualification planning, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and expanded mission design studies for beyond-Earth missions.

This milestone builds on Benchmark’s growing reputation as a leader in non-toxic space mobility, with a suite of heritage propulsion systems launched and over 100 thrusters delivered or on order.

Source : Benchmark Space Systems