CU AEROSPACE L.L.C. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF151-066

Description

ABSTRACT:CU Aerospace (CUA) proposes the development of the Monopropellant Propulsion Unit for CubeSats (MPUC) thruster, a breakthrough complete propulsion system technology for CubeSats and other small satellites, because of its high performance, nontoxic chemical monopropellant and benign storage characteristics. MPUC pushes the envelope of existing propulsion technologies by significantly increasing propellant storage density to provide >770 N-s total impulse and a thrust of 100 mN at 193 s specific impulse with an input power of ~3 W in a propulsion unit that fits entirely within a 0.5U volume plus hockey puck of a 3U CubeSat. MPUC uses a nontoxic propellant, with no special measures required for long-term storage. System pressurant is a self-pressurizing liquid, also used to provide cold-gas attitude control. MPUC provides a highly competitive total impulse in a small volume package, with a system lifetime estimated to be at least 3 years.BENEFIT:The baseline 0.5U MPUC offers CubeSats and other small satellites a complete propulsion system capability sufficient for significant orbital maneuvers with high impulse per unit volume. The propellant has no handling, storage, or operational restrictions beyond those of the CubeSat, and high thrust provides rapid response. CubeSats and nanosatellites with MPUC thrusters would enable a number of different significant missions for low Earth orbits including orbit raising and/or deorbiting. The drag makeup capability of MPUC systems would allow low altitude orbits, permitting onboard sensors to operate at lower altitude. MPUC would improve mission affordability for multiple CubeSats, since several CubeSats with MPUC could be launched from a single low-cost booster and maneuvered to other orbits, then later de-orbited. Note that MPUC is easily scalable to smaller or larger sizes, depending on mission and payload requirements, by changing the tank volume. Thus, the MPUC thruster provides a compact, non-hazardous, propulsion technology solution made available in a family of sizes that can meet the differing needs of users in DOD, NASA, industry, and academia for CubeSat and nanosatellite missions.