The conference brings together researchers, industry and agency representatives, and early-career scientists from across Germany to discuss current developments in electric space propulsion.
Date:
Type: Conference
The BOOST project was represented at the 1st German Electric Propulsion Conference (GEPC 2026), held on 22–24 September 2026 at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
The conference brought together researchers, industry representatives and experts from the German electric propulsion community to discuss current developments, research infrastructures and future opportunities for cooperation in electric space propulsion.
Within the conference programme, the contribution “Development Status of the Iodine Test Facility at the Institute of Space Systems” was presented by Jonathan Skalden, Christian Ianosel and Georg Herdrich from the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart, together with Fabrizio Ponti from the University of Bologna.
The contribution presented the progress made in the development of the dedicated iodine test facility being implemented at IRS within the BOOST project. The facility is designed to support the experimental characterisation of iodine-fed electric propulsion technologies and, in particular, of the iodine-compatible RF cathode and rechargeable propellant storage and fluidic system being developed within BOOST.
Particular attention was devoted to the three main subsystems of the facility: the thermal system, used to control the temperature along the iodine feed line and prevent condensation; the cryogenic cold plate, designed to capture iodine leaving the cathode; and the fluid system, which stores iodine as solid pellets and controls the propellant mass flow through sublimation. Additional protection stages are implemented to prevent iodine from reaching and damaging the vacuum pumping system.
The presentation also addressed the facility safety concept, operational procedures and current commissioning status. By introducing this new experimental infrastructure to the electric propulsion community, the contribution provided an opportunity to disseminate BOOST results and to strengthen exchanges on the technological challenges associated with iodine propulsion and its ground testing.
Participation in GEPC 2026 represents another step in BOOST’s dissemination activities, helping connect the project with the wider European electric propulsion research community and sharing the progress achieved towards enabling reliable and sustainable iodine-based propulsion technologies.
For more information on the conference: 1st German Electric Propulsion Conference 2026