A Green, Safe, Dual-Pulse Solid Motor for CubeSat Orbit Changing

Small satellites such as CubeSats are in need of responsive propulsion, but are limited due to their size. Though single pulse, AP/HTPB fueled solid rocket motors exist in the market, greater mission flexibility is to be had from a motor with the capability of a second ignition in the same volume constraints. Digital Solid State Propulsion (DSSP) proposes research into the technology to not only to enable a second pulse from a high thrust solid rocket motor, but also into a safer class of propellants called Electric Solid Propellants (ESPs). A barrier system, developed on other DSSP programs, would be the stepping stone for the dual pulse ability of the motor. The ESPs are a group of propellants that are electrically ignited, but safer to handle compared to standard solid energetic propellants. For in-space use, Aluminized variant of ESP would be improved and utilized for this application. Phase I funding would allow for the advancements of these technologies to a TRL 3. Then following basic research and design goals of a Phase I contract, a Phase II contract would allow the design and test of an integrated Delta-V and ACS propulsion into a 1U module at TRL 6.

The most obvious use of a dual-pulse solid motor would be for performing Hohmann transfer orbits from a lower altitude (higher atmospheric drag) to a higher (lower atmospheric drag) orbit, thus increasing the mission duration of the satellite. Note that such a maneuver requires two, nearly equal, delta-v maneuvers to complete. Such a maneuver would require two of the state of the art motors, but a single, dual-pulse motor that could be packaged in the same volume while being able to perform the same function as two current state of the art motors. A current market for this kind of motor would be a Cubesat secondary payload on an Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket. Such a rocket drops off CubeSats in a 250 km circular orbit, where they then have approximately one week on orbit before deorbiting due to atmospheric drag. The 1U+ dual pulse motor would be able to increase the orbit to a circular orbit altitude of about 465 km. This kind of maneuver increases the satellites lifetime from a few days to a few months; so would become much more useful to any customer.

We have already teamed with the standard CubeSat bus manufacturer, Pumpkin Inc., and in-space propulsion manufacturer, Moog-ISP, for commercial introduction of our thrusters into the small satellite community. Raytheon Missile Systems is also supporting DSSP for ESP related applications to kill vehicles and boost phase propulsion. Commercially, most interest in these electric solid propellants comes for the oil and oil field services companies. DSSP's smart energetic materials technology was select by "Oil and Gas Innovation" as one of the Top Ten Technologies for 2009. DSSP LLC is in negotiations with Shell Corporation as a "Game Changer" technology for down-hole oil field application.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.