Development of a micro pulsed plasma thruster for the Dawgstar nanosatellite

Abstract

The design and testing of a micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) is presented. Developed for the University of Washington's Dawgstar nanosatellite, the micro-PPT will provide formation keeping, orbit maintenance and attitude control functions to enable the smallest known spacecraft with an active propulsion system. Dawgstar, funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), NASA and industry; is a 15 kg satellite which will fly in the ION-F formation to demonstrate nanosatellite formation flying and distributed science. The preliminary design shows that an eight thruster system can be built within a 13.5 W power and 5 kg mass budget. Preliminary testing at Primex Space Systems has provided proof of principle, impulse bit and specific impulse data. Further lifetime testing at the University of Washington validated the propellant feed system and the predicted capacitor lifetime. Data presented shows that a single micro-PPT consuming less than 6.8 W can produce an impulse bit sufficient to enable attitude control and orbit maintenance functions for a small satellite in low Earth orbit, while meeting stringent mass and volume requirements.