The Advanced Propulsion Laboratory is developing a pulsed plasma thruster. A PPT on a CubeSat could provide thrust for orbital maneuvers as well as help with (precise pointing for optimal data collection) to keep the footprint of the circuitry as small as possible breadboards were abandoned for custom printed circuit boards.
The Advanced Propulsion Laboratory is developing a pulsed plasma thruster. A PPT on a CubeSat could provide thrust for orbital maneuvers as well as help with (precise pointing for optimal data collection) to keep the footprint of the circuitry as small as possible breadboards were abandoned for custom printed circuit boards.
The Advanced Propulsion Laboratory is developing a pulsed plasma thruster. A PPT on a CubeSat could provide thrust for orbital maneuvers as well as help with (precise pointing for optimal data collection) to keep the footprint of the circuitry as small as possible breadboards were abandoned for custom printed circuit boards.
Small satellites are an emerging technology of interest to universities,
governments, and private corporations alike. Compared to their full size counterparts, they provide inexpensive access to space for research or equipment testing. A popular form for small satellites is the CubeSat standard, which is defined as being composed of units of 10cm X 10cm X 10cm. To increase the capabilities of a CubeSat, the Advanced Propulsion Laboratory is developing a pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) suitable for the CubeSat form factor and power requirements. A PPT on a CubeSat could provide thrust for orbital maneuvers as well as help with (precise pointing for optimal data collection) <- i've never seen PPTs pitched for this, only that they can be used for momentum desaturation. in the past typically we say PPTs can be used for orbital transfers and orbital maintenance. Development of a small PPT is not focused on making a small barrel, but rather on miniaturizing the circuitry required to run the PPT (although we haven't put too much effort into miniaturizing the barrel, i think in the future this will be more important). There are two major components to the PPT circuitry, a 1000 volt main discharge capacitor and a 20,000 volt ignition transformer. The first step in building both systems was researching components that could withstand the high voltages, operate fast enough to provide short delays between PPT firings, and that were small enough to fit on a CubeSat while leaving room for other instruments (even before component selection is topology/selection. for example, the charging system employs flyback DCDC conversion. and some important things you didn't state is that the is design based on: optimal electrical efficiency, simplicity, and highest mass/power efficiency). Additionally, because of the high voltages and the transient nature of PPT operation circuitry was needed to protect the other electric components of the CubeSat (idk what the sentence is refering). To keep the footprint of the circuitry as small as possible breadboards were abandoned for custom printed circuit boards designed using the Eagle software tool. Currently components are being shipped to test the seventh version of the circuit board layout. It will be tested with the goal of firing the PPT once every second for at least an hour to prove that the system is ready for a wide variety of missions. (this really isn't the goal right now. the new electrical box employing v7 of the main discharge charger and using the EHT IGBT switch will be able to fire at ridiculous firing rates, maybe ~200Hz) lets talk tonight about this