Abstract
Green propellants are currently considered as enabling technology that is revolutionizing the development of high-performance space propulsion, especially for small-sized spacecraft. Modern space missions, either in LEO or interplanetary, require relatively high-thrust and impulsive capabilities to provide better control on the spacecraft, and to overcome the growing challenges, particularly related to overcrowded LEOs, and to modern space application orbital maneuver requirements. Green monopropellants are gaining momentum in the design and development of small and modular liquid propulsion systems, especially for CubeSats, due to their favorable thermophysical properties and relatively high performance when compared to gaseous propellants, and perhaps simpler management when compared to bipropellants. Accordingly, a novel high-thrust modular impulsive green monopropellant propulsion system with a micro electric pump feed cycle is proposed. MIMPS-G500mN is designed to be capable of delivering 0.5 N thrust and offers theoretical total impulse Itot from 850 to 1350 N s per 1U and >3000 N s per 2U depending on the burnt monopropellant, which makes it a candidate for various LEO satellites as well as future Moon missions. Green monopropellant ASCENT (formerly AF-M315E), as well as HAN and ADN-based alternatives (i.e., HNP225 and LMP-103S) were proposed in the preliminary design and system analysis. The article will present state-of-the-art green monopropellants in the (EIL) Energetic Ionic Liquid class and a trade-off study for proposed propellants. System analysis and design of MIMPS-G500mN will be discussed in detail, and the article will conclude with a market survey on small satellites green monopropellant propulsion systems and commercial off-the-shelf thrusters.
Highlights
CubeSat propulsion is evolving to fulfill the requirements of modern space missions and applications that demand propulsion capabilities to enable active orbital operations, such as orbital altitude and inclination changes, orbital transfers, formation flying, rendezvous operations–generally, operations requiring high-thrust impulsive maneuvers
Other science missions for CubeSats utilizing a propulsion system are MarCO Mars deep-space CubeSat utilizing a cold-gas propulsion system launched in May 2018 [2], and Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) by NASA, launched in January 2021 which utilizes the Hydros-C water-based propulsion system [3]
HNP (Highly stable Non detonating Propellant) is a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate (HAN)/hydrazinium nitrate (HN)-based family of green monopropellants developed by IHI Aerospace of Japan
Summary
CubeSat propulsion is evolving to fulfill the requirements of modern space missions and applications that demand propulsion capabilities to enable active orbital operations, such as orbital altitude and inclination changes, orbital transfers, formation flying, rendezvous operations–generally, operations requiring high-thrust impulsive maneuvers. Other science missions for CubeSats utilizing a propulsion system are MarCO Mars deep-space CubeSat utilizing a cold-gas propulsion system launched in May 2018 [2], and Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) by NASA, launched in January 2021 which utilizes the Hydros-C water-based propulsion system [3] Challenges facing this evolution include, as an example, the need for design-modularity and components miniaturization. Of this article, the three proposed green monopropellants, belonging to the Energetic Ionic Liquids (EILs) class, will be reviewed emphasizing their physical properties, performance and their development status This article presents a more detailed analysis and results and extends the research work presented by the authors in the conference papers [7,8,9]
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