Development, Qualification and Integration of the VENµS PPU

Abstract

VENμS is a project that consists of two missions: Scientific mission in which a superspectral camera will image vegetation and Technological mission in which strict orbit keeping for precise imaging will be controlled in an autonomous manner. The latter utilizes a payload, which is a newly developed electrical propulsion system for LEO satellites, by RAFAEL. The system consists of Hall Effect Thrusters (HET), driven by a Power Processing Unit (PPU) that can operate the two HETs, one at a time, at maximal anodic power of 600W. The system carries all required provisions to drive the actuators and sensors of the Propellant Management Assembly (PMA) while communicating with the satellite computer. A dedicated computerized tester was built to support all integration and testing activities of the PPU. In the course of its development, the PPU was successfully qualified for space in a series of tests, including functional, environmental and EMI tests. The engineering and qualification models of the PPU passes all the required tests successfully. During the development process, lessons were learned regarding PPU internal design for operational flexibility, calibrations and testing.