The contract, the equivalent of $11.64 million, is for the development of a 5-kilowatt XR-5E Hall Thruster, which is an ionic drive that moves objects in orbit.

These thrusters will be used for global navigation satellites and for communications satellites.

The subsidiary is European Space Propulsion, which will develop products for the European market. The thrusters will be built in Belfast.

European Space Propulsion has sold electric space propulsion technology out of its Belfast offices for years. In the past, most of those motors were made at Aerojet Rocketdyne's campus in Redmond, Wash.