 the eps 5000 produced by safran spacecraft propulsion is a hall effect thruster purposely designed for all electric satellites it can operate in high thrust or high specific impulse mode and offers an operating lifespan of about 20 000 hours this means it can handle orbital positioning and station keeping duties for a wide range of telecom and navigation satellites as well as exploration spacecraft the eps 5000 was fully qualified in 2021 the major advantage of the eps 5000 is of course its very high specific impulse which allows significant weight savings versus platforms using conventional chemical propulsion it also offers an excellent thrust to electrical power ratio which enables reducing operating time or the number of thrusters needed it can be delivered as part of an electric propulsion subsystem including all thermal control functions upcoming missions the eps 5000 has been selected by airbus defence and space and thales alenia space for use on their eurostar neo and spacebus neo communications satellite platforms respectively it will handle both orbit raising and station keeping duties it has also been selected by boeing company for use in a cluster of three eps 5000 thrusters operating simultaneously for orbit raising at a power rating of 5 kw 