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Micro cathode arc thruster for phonesat: development and potential applications
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Lukas, Joseph Teel, George Agasid, Elwood Trinh, Greenfield Keidar, Michael Attai, Watson Gazulla, Oriol Tintore Salas, Alberto Guillen Schimmin, Rogan Wolfe, Jasper Oyadomari, Ken Priscal, Cedric Perez, Andres Dono Uribe, Eddie Haque, Samudra |
| Copyright Year | 2014 |
| Description | NASA Ames Research Center and the George Washington University are developing an electric propulsion subsystem that will be integrated into the PhoneSat bus. Experimental tests have shown a reliable performance by firing three different thrusters at various frequencies in vacuum conditions. The interface consists of a microcontroller that sends a trigger pulse to the Pulsed Plasma Unit that is responsible for the thruster operation. A Smartphone is utilized as the main user interface for the selection of commands that control the entire system. The propellant, which is the cathode itself, is a solid cylinder made of Titanium. This simplicity in the design avoids miniaturization and manufacturing problems. The characteristics of this thruster allow an array of μCATs to perform attitude control and orbital correction maneuvers that will open the door for the implementation of an extensive collection of new mission concepts and space applications for CubeSats. NASA Ames is currently working on the integration of the system to fit the thrusters and the PPU inside a 1.5U CubeSat together with the PhoneSat bus. This satellite is intended to be deployed from the ISS in 2015 and test the functionality of the thrusters by spinning the satellite around its long axis and measure the rotational speed with the phone gyros. This test flight will raise the TRL of the propulsion system from 5 to 7 and will be a first test for further CubeSats with propulsion systems, a key subsystem for long duration or interplanetary small satellite missions. |
| File Size | 599610 |
| Page Count | 15 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20140013456 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t7mq01r6q |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2014-05-26 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Cubesat Propulsion Phonesat Electric Propulsion Attitude Control Vacuum Chambers Prototypes Pulsed Plasma Thrusters Miniature Electronic Equipment Propulsion System Configurations Cathodes Technology Utilization Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
