Cold Gas Micro-Thruster Enhances Satellite Thermal Management

NASA Tech Briefs, Aug 2004

Cold Gas Micro-Thruster and thrust control electronics driver

Marotta Controls

Montvilie, NJ

973-334-7800

www.marotta.com

As spacecraft continually decrease in size, power generation devices such as solar arrays must also decrease in size, causing critical satellite thermal management issues. Because it is more difficult to dissipate heat from power-consuming satellite components, smaller micro-spacecraft demand that less power be consumed by spacecraft components.

Marotta Controls has developed and qualified a high-pressure Cold Gas Micro-Thruster that, when coupled with a thrust control electronics driver, is capable of low-power operation. This system draws less than one watt throughout operation, exhibiting solenoid coil heating levels comparable to a continuous-duty solenoid valve.

The technology has been selected for use in the NASA New Millennium Program Space Technology 5 (ST-5) effort. The design will be used to fly the nanosatellite propulsion component on three spacecraft, along with other technologies for later nanosatellite missions. The technology meets thruster specification requirements for the ST-5, as defined by the Guidance, Navigation and Control Center's Propulsion Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, including: 154 Bar maximum expected operating pressure, 5 VDC driving voltage, less than 70 gram weight, and a 2.360 to 0.105 Newton thrust capability.

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