Delta 50-820 User Manual download pdf (Page 17)

Mueller, Ziemer, Hofer, Wirz, O’Donnell 17

Survey of Micro-Thrust Propulsion Options

Cube Sat - 5’th Annual Developers Workshop 2008

Summary of Propulsion Candidates

for CubeSats

•

A limited number of thruster technologies are emerging that may satisfy propulsive

needs and fit the Cube Sat design envelope.

•

Chemical Thrusters: Higher thrust, lower Isp

for slew and limited delta-v

•

Cold Gas Thrusters:

•

Small size and mass of components, however, limited Isp

performance suitable to only ACS or

very limited delta-v

•

System integration issues of high-pressurant

tanks: system mass and total impulse issues.

•

Butane Thrusters:

•

Recently developed by VACCO Industries for a JPL micro-inspector spacecraft. Previoulsy

explored on Surrey SNAP-1A.

•

Butane thruster combines simplicity and low mass of a cold gas system with compact, low mass

liquid propellant storage, and piezovalve

technology for low-power operation

•

Hydrazine thrusters:

•

Hydrazine thrusters are the workhorse for attitude control and small delta-v on conventional S/C.

•

A hydrazine milli-Newton thruster (HmNT) is under development at JPL, primarily for precision

attitude control of larger spacecraft -

it may potentially serve as main propulsion on CubeSats.

•

Issues are system integration (valves, filters, tanks) and safety issues due to hydrazine use

(may not be compatible with low cost Cube Sat missions).

•

Solid Motor Kick Stages:

•

Small solid motors with sufficient burn duration (e.g. ATK STAR 4G) may be used as kick stages

for Cube Sats

similar as for larger spacecraft.

•

Need for separate (liquid) propulsion system for orbit trimming,

ACS or spin-up/spin-down.

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