TY - GEN
T1 - Pulsed plasma thruster for multi-axis cubesat attitude control applications
AU - Khuller, Aditya R.
AU - Alavi, Omar
AU - Mayer, Joseph
AU - Lanes, Tyler J.
AU - Needham, Patrick
AU - Rajagopalan, Surya S.
AU - Curiel, Ashley
AU - Bonelli, Dominic
AU - Thompson, Erskine
AU - Miller, Ryley
AU - Grayson, Madison
AU - Sandys, Noah
AU - White, Daniel B.
AU - Mikellides, Pavlos G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Gabrielle Massone, Dr. Laura Jones-Wilson, Dr. Ryan Conversano, William Jones-Wilson and Dr. Ansel Barchowsky (JPL) and the members of the Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory Pulsed Plasma Thruster team (Caroline Hagstrom, Raymond Barakat, Sterling Weatherford, Nathan Renard, Saurav Shenoy, Michael Garland, Doni Tapederi, Brandon Tieu, Patrick Kennedy, Himanshu Dave, Ramit Gupta, Jessica Maschino and Brian Amaral). Support from the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Center for Academic Partnership is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) typically utilize a solid propellant such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to generate moderate specific impulse at the low-power scale. This work discusses the design and development of a multi-axis PPT module with a compact form factor of 0.9U and a maximum mass of ~1 kg, thereby minimizing system volume and mass to enable larger science payloads. The PPT has eight thrusters integrated into a single thruster module to allow for multi-axis control, a key feature not currently available in any COTS (commercial, off-the shelf) PPT. Copper-tungsten alloys and molybdenum, both of which have been shown to have relatively low electrode erosion rates, will be used for the PPT design’s electrodes. Analytical results have shown that the multi-axis PPT configuration enables fine pointing, which can allow for precise scientific measurements of targets in deep space, as well as the potential to enable formation flying missions. Additionally, the PPT can also be used for station keeping, deorbiting and reaction-wheel momentum dumping with a predicted minimum specific impulse of 1000s and a minimum impulse bit of 100 μNs.
AB - Pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) typically utilize a solid propellant such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to generate moderate specific impulse at the low-power scale. This work discusses the design and development of a multi-axis PPT module with a compact form factor of 0.9U and a maximum mass of ~1 kg, thereby minimizing system volume and mass to enable larger science payloads. The PPT has eight thrusters integrated into a single thruster module to allow for multi-axis control, a key feature not currently available in any COTS (commercial, off-the shelf) PPT. Copper-tungsten alloys and molybdenum, both of which have been shown to have relatively low electrode erosion rates, will be used for the PPT design’s electrodes. Analytical results have shown that the multi-axis PPT configuration enables fine pointing, which can allow for precise scientific measurements of targets in deep space, as well as the potential to enable formation flying missions. Additionally, the PPT can also be used for station keeping, deorbiting and reaction-wheel momentum dumping with a predicted minimum specific impulse of 1000s and a minimum impulse bit of 100 μNs.
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U2 - 10.2514/6.2018-4969
DO - 10.2514/6.2018-4969
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85066500473
SN - 9781624105708
T3 - 2018 Joint Propulsion Conference
BT - 2018 Joint Propulsion Conference
PB - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
T2 - 54th AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, 2018
Y2 - 9 July 2018 through 11 July 2018
ER -