Endurance testing of a pulsed plasma thruster for nanosatellites |
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| Institution: | 1. Fotec GmbH, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria;2. University of Applied Science, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria;1. National Key Laboratory of Aerospace Flight Dynamics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 710072 Xi''an, PR China;2. Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, I-56122 Pisa, Italy;1. National Key Laboratory of Aerospace Flight Dynamics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 710072 Xi''an, People''s Republic of China;2. Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, I-56122 Pisa, Italy;1. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan, ROC;2. Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées, Paris, France;1. Technology for Propulsion and Innovation S.r.l, Padova, Italy;2. University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, Centre for Studies and Activities for Space, Padova, Italy;3. Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Aerospace Engineering Department, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran, P.O.B. 16765-163, Iran |
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| Abstract: | The mission complexity of Nanosatellites has increased tremendously in recent years, but their mission range is limited due to the lack of an active orbit control or ∆v capability. Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT), featuring structural simplicity and very low power consumption are a prime candidate for such applications. However, the required miniaturization of standard PPTs and the adaption to the low power consumption is not straightforward. Most investigated systems have failed to show the required lifetime. The present coaxial design has shown a lifetime of up to 1 million discharges at discharge energies of 1.8 J in previous studies. The present paper focuses on performance characterizations of this design. For this purpose direct thrust measurements with a µN thrust balance were conducted. Thrust measurements in conjunction with mass bit determination allowed a comprehensive assessment. Based on those measurements the present µPPT has a total impulses capability of approximately I≈1.7 Ns, an average mass bit of 0.37 µg s−1 and an average specific impulse of Isp≈904 s. All tests have shown very good EM compatibility of the PPT with the electronics of the flight-like printed circuit board. Consequently, a complete µPPT unit can provide a ∆v change of 5.1 m/s or 2.6 m/s to a standard 1-unit or 2-unit CubeSat respectively. |
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