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Propulsion & Power

Impulse plans upgraded Mira propulsion checkout on LEO Express 4

By SpaceEnergy 10 September 2026 1 min read
Impulse plans upgraded Mira propulsion checkout on LEO Express 4
Credit: Impulse Space

(SpaceEnergy) US in-space mobility company Impulse Space will use its LEO Express 4 mission to conduct a full orbital checkout of the upgraded propulsion system on its Mira spacecraft.

The Impulse-only mission is preparing for launch on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 rideshare from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, manifested through Exolaunch. Impulse said Mira will perform a range of manoeuvres and rapid successive thruster firings to demonstrate its increased delta-v capability.

The upgraded Mira uses eight higher-thrust Saiph engines, increased from 5lbf to 6lbf each, alongside additional propellant capacity. Impulse previously said those changes increase available delta-v by 25%, giving Mira up to 900m/s with a 100kg payload.

LEO Express 4 will provide a further propulsion demonstration after the preceding LEO Express 3 spacecraft was unable to conduct its planned main-thruster burns. Impulse said in January that noisy star-tracker measurements during commissioning caused higher-than-planned reaction-control propellant use, consuming most of the spacecraft’s nitrous oxide.

The new mission will also test additional avionics upgrades and build flight heritage for the upgraded Mira configuration. Impulse has not specified a launch date on the mission page.

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