Performance Characterization of a Cold Gas Propulsion System for a Deep Space Cubesat
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Abstract
One challenge facing the developers of CubeSats that operate in deep space is
that magnetic torque rods cannot be used for unloading the momentum stored in
reaction wheels. Rather, this task is performed by a system of thrusters. While a
wide variety of attitude control thrusters have been deployed on larger spacecraft,
there remain very few examples of such systems being used on CubeSats.
The upcoming BioSentinel mission, under development at NASA Ames Research
Center, is an example of a CubeSat-class spacecraft that requires thrusters
for momentum management. A new 3D-printed cold gas thruster was developed
for this application. This paper will describe the test campaign that was completed
for the engineering development unit (EDU), and will present a variety of
preliminary results describing the performance characteristics of the thruster.
The test campaign for the propulsion system EDU was carried out in partnership
with members of the In-Space Propulsion Branch at Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland, OH.
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2017-02
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