Low-Cost and High-Performance Propulsion for Small Satellite Applications

While small satellites continue to show immense promise for high-capability and low-cost missions, they remain limited by post-deployment propulsion for a variety of activities like precision maneuvering, orbit change and controlled re-entry / recovery. Furthermore, any on-board propulsion system capable of providing sufficiently high delta-V is likely to impose constraints on handling, storage, operations and safety that may limit consideration as a secondary payload. Ventions proposes to overcome these limitations by developing a compact, light-weight and low-cost 3U cubesat propulsion system that uses non-toxic propellants to provide approximately 125m/sec of delta-V within a 1kg and 100mm x 100mm x 100mm mass and size budget.

Currently, since all NASA cubesats are manifested as secondary payloads on launch vehicles carrying a large satellite, their deployment location is limited by the orbit characteristics of the primary payload. This greatly constrains the ability to deploy a highly-functional cubesat in a desired location to obtain "high-value science" from low-cost small spacecraft. Availability of the proposed on-board propulsion system is expected to enable significant post-deployment maneuverability, thereby allowing for much-needed orbit phasing and drag makeup capability to achieve several application-specific goals (e.g. science return).

The proposed on-board propulsion capability is also expected to allow for controlled re-entry and recovery for cubesats from orbits as high as 450km, and to enable orbit changing maneuvers in very small NRO-class missions (e.g., rapidly distributing a constellation around an orbital plane, changing overpass time of a given location in a sun-synchronous orbit, or lowering the perigee of an orbit over a particular latitude "on-demand" to enable improved resolution for reconnaissance missions).

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.

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