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The main objectives of this project were to develop a thruster prototype based on magnetic powder electrostatic propulsion and to test it in vacuum with direct thrust measurements. The aim was to check the robustness of the concept and to measure and calculate important performance parameters such as thrust and specific impulse, to allow a comparison with other thruster technologies. This project demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of electrostatic propulsion based on powder emission.

The Atom Interferometry Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle in Space (Q-WEP) is devoted to a precise measurement of the effect of gravity on matter using an atom interferometer; it tests one of the fundamental pillars of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity with high precision and thereby searches for hints of quantum effects in gravity, contributing to the exploration of one of the current frontiers in fundamental physics.