Development of a Cubesat-Scale Green
Monopropellant Propulsion System for NASA’s
Lunar Flashlight Mission
Author(s)
Huggins, Grayson
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Abstract
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight is a low-cost 6U CubeSat whose mission is to search for ice
and mineral deposits inside of the scattered craters at Moon’s southern pole. To conduct
its primary science mission, Lunar Flashlight must be placed in a stable lunar polar orbit
which requires utilization of an on-board propulsion system. However, to this date most
CubeSats have been propelled by cold-gas or electric propulsion systems that have proven to
scale well, but are not efficient or impulsive enough to conduct large Δ𝑉 maneuvers such as orbit
insertions. To this end, the Lunar Flashlight mission has chosen to utilize a custom-designed
green monopropellant propulsion system developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology
under the sponsorship and guidance of NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center and Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. The developed system is capable of providing more than the required propulsive
capability for full mission success while fitting inside of a 2.5U volume and weighing less than
six kilograms. The system is developed for use with the AF-M315E green monopropellant
that provides higher specific impulse compared to traditional hydrazine while also being safer
to handle. If successful, the presented propulsion system will enable Lunar Flashlight to be
the first CubeSat to reach the Moon, the first to conduct an orbit insertion, and will be the
second-ever spaceflight demonstration of the AF-M315E propellant.
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Date
2020-07-29
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Masters Project
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