63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

IAC-12-C4.6.2

APPLICATION OF AN ADVANCED MICRO-PROPULSION SYSTEM TO THE DELFFI FORMATION-

FLYING DEMONSTRATION WITHIN THE QB50 MISSION

Angelo Cervone
Space Systems Engineering – Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, A.Cervone@tudelft.nl

Barry Zandbergen, Jian Guo, Eberhard Gill

Space Systems Engineering – Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Wolter Wieling, Flavia Tata Nardini, Coen Schuurbiers

TNO, The Netherlands

The performance of several micro-propulsion systems is compared when applied to the specific needs of the
DelFFi project, a formation flying technology demonstration expected to take place in the framework of the QB50
mission. The evaluated options include the T3µPS cold gas micro-propulsion system developed by TNO, Delft
University of Technology and the University of Twente and a silicon-based MEMS resistojet design proposed by TU
Delft. The analysis clearly shows that a resistojet technology, if combined with the cool gas generator units used in
the T3µPS system, leads to significant advantages in terms of the total propulsion system mass and is still complaint
to the stringent volume requirements of micro- and nano-satellites. These advantages are particularly evident for low
values of the total velocity change required by the mission, as in the case of the DelFFi project.

I. INTRODUCTION PRISMA satellites in 2010) of cold gas thrusters with a

The constantly increasing development of small
satellites launches and applications during the last 10-15
years has led to a consequent significant increment of
the research activities on the miniaturization of satellite
subsystems. However, due to cost and mass budget
considerations, it is still quite usual to see micro- and
nano-satellites without any propulsion capabilities,
therefore facing severe limitations in their lifetime and
performance.
The need for high-performance, highly miniaturized
propulsion systems suitable for use in small satellites is
explicitly stated in the technology roadmaps prepared
by the main space agencies, including NASA1 and
ESA2. To enhance their performance, the next
generation of small satellites requires extremely
miniaturized and highly integrated propulsion systems
capable to meet stringent mass, power and volume
constraints3. In particular, for nano-satellite
applications, such propulsion systems should be small,
lightweight, capable to deliver very low thrust levels (in
the order of magnitude of µN up to a few mN), with a
limited power consumption (possibly lower than 1 W).
However, in spite of these roadmaps and needs,
there are still few ongoing activities in Europe on
micro-propulsion, especially if compared to what can be
seen in the United States and in Japan. In Sweden,
NanoSpace is involved in the development of various
MEMS devices suitable for satellite propulsion4. They
have developed a cold-gas CubeSat propulsion module
with a thrust resolution of 10 µN, based on the heritage
gained by the flight demonstration (on board of the
thrust level down to 10 µN and a specific impulse lower
than 100 sec; they are also developing and testing
MEMS components for propulsion systems, including
closed-loop controlled proportional valves and particle
filters. In the Netherlands, TNO is active in the
development of CubeSat propulsion systems based on
solid propellant cool gas generator technology5; this
research led to the development, in collaboration with
the Delft University of Technology and the University
of Twente, of the T3µPS cold gas micro-propulsion
system6, which will be demonstrated on board of the
Delfi-n3Xt satellite scheduled for launch in December
20127.
All the above propulsion systems are still of the
“cold gas” type, and their performance in terms of
specific impulse is therefore very limited; heating the
propellant to a higher temperature can lead to significant
improvements in terms of characteristic velocity,
specific impulse and general propulsion performance.
Some improvements in this direction might be possible
with the silicon-based MEMS resistojet design recently
proposed by TU Delft8, which seems to be considerably
more promising with respect to other options at higher
specific impulse levels (such as ion and plasma
thrusters) especially for missions requiring a total
velocity change ∆v lower than 200 m/s. This is due to
several potential advantages of the micro-resistojet
technology, including a high thrust-to-power ratio, a
low system specific mass, an intrinsically uncharged
plume and the possibility of using a wide variety of
propellants9.

IAC-12-C4.6.2 Page 1 of 8
63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.
In this paper, the performance of several micro-
propulsion systems (including the T3µPS cool gas and
the MEMS resistojet concept developed at TU Delft)
will be compared when applied to the specific needs of
the DelFFi project, a formation flying technology
demonstration expected to take place in the framework
of the QB50 program, an international mission
incorporating a network of 50 CubeSats in Low-Earth
orbits for lower thermosphere and re-entry research. In
particular, it will be shown that an advanced T3
propulsion system including a MEMS micro-resistojet is
capable to meet the requirements relative to drag control
for relative formation flying and controlled re-entry of
the twin DelFFi satellites, while still adhering to the
mission mass constraints.
II. THE DELFFI PROJECT
The QB50 mission is intended to establish an
international network of 50 nano-satellites with several
mission objectives, including multi-point measurements
in the lower thermosphere and re-entry research tasks.
The Delft University of Technology plans to contribute
to QB50 by means of two satellites, as space segment
for the so-called DelFFi project10.
The main objective of the DelFFi project is an
autonomous formation flying demonstration between
the two satellites, using innovative concepts for their
navigation, guidance and control. Two identical triple-
unit CubeSats are expected to be used to this purpose,
including an in-orbit demonstration payload constituted
by a micro-propulsion system (for controlling the
relative motion of the two satellites) and a radio-
frequency navigation sensor (for relative ranging and
inter-satellite communications).
Fig. 1: Sketch of the two CubeSats used for the DelFFi
project.
More in detail, the DelFFi formation flying
experiment will allow the two satellites to fly at a
controlled along-track separation of about 1000 km,
with a control window of 100 km kept with an accuracy
of 10 km. The relative navigation accuracy required for
IAC-12-C4.6.2
this scenario is about 1 km, and the velocity change for
maintaining the baseline distance between the satellites,
in the low altitude orbit foreseen for QB50, is expected
to be about 0.1 m/s per day. Considering a 30-days
formation flying mission and accounting for maneuvers,
contingencies and margins, a total velocity change of
6.3 m/s per satellite is expected to be required.
However, several different alternative formation flying
configurations could be considered depending on the
stakeholders needs and requests, leading to consequent
variations of the velocity change requirements. The
candidate micro-propulsion system for the in-orbit
demonstration payload is presently represented by the
T3µPS cold gas system, which will be described more in
detail in the next Section.
II.I. QB50 Main Requirements
The present mass budget allocated to the in-orbit
demonstration payload is 420 g per each QB50 satellite,
out of a total satellite mass of 3600 g. In particular, a
mass of 330 g is available for the propulsion system,
with a maximum available volume of 3x10x10 cm3. On
the other side, the power budget allocated to the in-orbit
demonstration payload is 290 mW per satellite: 100 mW
are required by the radio-frequency navigation sensor,
while an average of 190 mW are allocated to the
propulsion system. Taking into account the general
project requirements, the estimated torque disturbances
and the possible misalignment and assembly errors, the
required thrust per satellite can be estimated to be 5 mN
as a maximum. The presence of a deployable array leads
to a relatively low value of the maximum allowed
acceleration, equal to 2 m/s2. No specific requirements
related to the safety aspects are presently given:
therefore, there is not yet a maximum allowed pressure
and there are no indications on the propellants which
cannot be used (if any).
III. DESCRIPTION OF THE CANDIDATE
MICRO-PROPULSION SYSTEMS
For the analysis presented in this paper, four
different micro-propulsion options have been
considered: the Canadian Nano Propulsion System
(NANOPS), the micro-propulsion system produced by
Vacco in the United States, the TNO T3µPS cold gas
micro-propulsion system and a propulsion system based
on the silicon-based MEMS resistojet developed by TU
Delft. The main characteristics of these propulsion
systems and, in particular, their performance and mass,
will be described in this Section; a summary is provided
in Table 1, at the end of the Section.
III.I. Canadian NANOPS
The Nano Propulsion System (NANOPS) was the
main engineering payload successfully demonstrated on
board of the CanX-2, the second satellite built under the
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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.
CanX spacecraft program of the University of Toronto,
and it is especially designed for use in formation flying
missions11.
The system (Fig. 2) is completely made of
commercially-off-the-shelf components. The propellant
is Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6), working in cold gas
mode (but the possibility of heating the propellant is
considered in the design of the system); it is stored in a
supply tank and flows through a thruster valve and a
regulator valve. A vent valve and a pressure sensor are
also present. A frame holds together the entire system,
which typically consists of 4 thrusters. The design
storage pressure of the propellant inside the tank is 34.5
bar; the overall wet mass of the system (including
propellant) is 500 g. The required DC power for the
entire system is 4 W. The flight demonstrated average
specific impulse is 46.7 s, while the maximum measured
in-flight thrust was 35 mN and the minimum impulse bit
ranged from 0.07 to 0.15 mNs depending on the
propellant pressure12. The tank volume, estimated from
the sketch shown in Fig. 2, is 28.3 cm3 (cylindrical tank,
3 cm diameter x 4 cm length).
Fig. 2: 3D drawing of the assembled NANOPS
propulsion system (from Mauthe et al.11).
III.II. Vacco Micro-Propulsion System
The micro-propulsion system produced by Vacco is
intended to be used, among other applications, on the
Micro-Inspector satellite developed by JPL in the
United States. For this reason, a prototype of the
propulsion system has been successfully tested in the
micro-Newton test stand at JPL13.
The system uses iso-butane as propellant and low
power piezoelectric valves as thruster and flow
regulation valves. Due to the relatively low vapour
pressure of the propellant, a flat disk tank can be used
instead of the more typical spherical or cylindrical
IAC-12-C4.6.2
shapes. The “thrusters” themselves consist of a
piezoelectric valve and an integrated nozzle.
The propellant can be stored in the tank at its vapour
pressure, equal to about 15 psia (1.03 bar), but higher
storage pressures are also possible; Vacco declares as
“operational” tank storage pressure a value of 40 psia
(2.75 bar), at which a thrust of 55 mN can be obtained.
The estimated vacuum specific impulse of the system is
60 s. The total system mass is 509 g, out of which 53 g
are propellant. The corresponding reported tank volume
is 95 cm3.
III.III. T3µPS Cold Gas System
The T3µPS (Fig. 3) consists of a PCB and a plenum
chamber in which the cool gas generators, the thruster
and the thrust valve are mounted. In 2010, a
qualification model of the system has been successfully
tested in vacuum at TU Delft14. In this model, a flat
body Titanium buffer vessel is used as tank as well as
main structure of the system; the tank internal volume is
28 cm3. Each cool gas generator is loaded with an
amount of usable propellant equal to 0.125 g, producing
0.1 normal liters of gaseous N2. A total of 8 cool gas
generators are present in the model, for a total system
mass of 140 g. The maximum expected operating
pressure of the system is 6 bar, and the operational
thrust level is about 6 mN in the model tested at TU-
Delft (but can be increased up to a theoretical maximum
of 150 mN, by changing the size of the micro machined
nozzle). The reported vacuum specific impulse of the
system is 68 s.
A further development of the cool gas generator
units, presently ongoing at TNO, has allowed for scaling
them up to a mass of 16.3 g, of which 4.21 g are usable
propellant. This has led to a significant improvement in
the performance of the system, and the analysis
presented in the present paper will therefore consider
these updated values.
Fig. 3: The T3µPS qualification model tested at TU
Delft (from Migliaccio et al.14).
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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

III.IV. MEMS Resistojet System IV. TRADE-OFF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The MEMS resistojet system developed by TU Delft Given the total initial mass for each DelFFi satellite
(Fig. 4) includes an inlet manifold, a heater section and of 3.6 kg, the required propellant mass can be calculated
a nozzle8. The channels have a rectangular cross section as a function of the specific impulse of the propulsion
of 50 x 150 µm, while the expansion ratio of the nozzle system. The result is shown in Fig. 5 for three different
is 25 and the nozzle throat width can be chosen among values of the required velocity change: the one as for
two values, 10 µm and 5 µm. specifications (6.3 m/s) and two higher ones (10 and 40
The system uses gaseous nitrogen as propellant. The m/s). These three velocity change values will also be
gas is heated by an integrated thin-film heater made of used as baselines for the successive trade-off
aluminium, and elevated temperatures at the fluidic calculations presented in this paper.
channel walls are ensured by using high thermal
conductivity silicon wafers. A single thruster unit has a
dry mass as low as 162 mg (excluding the propellant
and the storage tank). The vacuum specific impulse is
reported to be 73 s in the cold-gas mode, and can be
increased up to 104 s when the propellant is heated to
327 °C. The maximum pressure in the storage tank is 5
bar, corresponding to a combustion chamber pressure of
about 3.5 bar. With these settings, a thrust of 0.44 mN
per thruster unit can be obtained, but this value is
lowered down to 0.38 mN if the available power is 190
mW.

Fig. 5: Required propellant mass for each DelFFi

satellite, as a function of the specific impulse, for
different values of the total required velocity change
(red = 6.3 m/s; blue = 10 m/s; green = 40 m/s).

More in detail, the propellant mass needed in case

one of the four candidate micro-propulsion systems is
used is shown, for the three different values of the
velocity change, in Table 2. The values shown in the
Table are 10% higher with respect to the nominal ones
which can be obtained from Fig. 5, in order to take into
account a sufficient contingency margin.

Fig. 4: A fully packaged MEMS resistojet device (from NANOPS Vacco T3µPS MEMS
Tittu Varghese et al.8). Resistojet
MP [g] for:
∆v = 6.3 m/s 54.09 42.16 37.22 24.38
NANOPS Vacco T3µPS MEMS ∆v = 10 m/s 85.50 66.71 58.92 38.62
Resistojet ∆v = 40 m/s 331.1 260.2 230.5 152.3
Propellant SF6 Iso- N2 N2
butane Table 2: Required propellant mass (with 10% margin)
Isp [s] 46.7 60 68 104 for each DelFFi satellite, for different values of the
pT [bar] 34.5 2.75 N/A 5 total required velocity change, when one of the
pMAX [bar] 34.5 2.75 6 5 candidate micro-propulsion systems is used.
VT [cm3] 28.3 95 28 N/A
T [mN] 35 55 6 0.38 In order to scale the total propulsion system mass
MTOT [g] 500 509 140 N/A starting from the baseline values provided in the
Table 1: Summary of the main characteristics of the previous Section (see Table 1), it is necessary to
candidate micro-propulsion systems. consider not only a different amount of propellant
needed, but also a different size (and mass) of the

IAC-12-C4.6.2 Page 4 of 8
63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

propellant storage tank. As a first approximation, the the design of the CGG units, has a lower total mass with
tank can be scaled by using the following simple respect to the other ones for sufficiently low values of
relationship: the required velocity change (∆v < 20 m/s). For the
design ∆v of 6.3 m/s, a total of 9 CGG units are
VT pT
Km = [1] estimated to be necessary. The estimated mass of the
MT Vacco propulsion system is slightly lower than the one
of the Canadian NANOPS due to its higher specific
where Km depends only on the tank geometry, the impulse, despite of the lower propellant density and the
tank material and the safety factor used, but remains higher mass-volume ratio of the tank. The MEMS
constant for all combinations of values of the tank resistojet, in turn, seems to be a better option with
volume VT, the tank pressure pT and the tank mass MT. respect to the NANOPS and the Vacco propulsion
Furthermore, the following additional assumptions system only for values of ∆v lower than 10 m/s.
have been made for the analysis:
• For the NANOPS, a cylindrical stainless steel tank is
assumed, with a burst safety factor of 3.5. The
corresponding value of Km is 8000 m2/s2. The
propellant density is taken equal to 1880 kg/m3.
• For the Vacco micro-propulsion system, the tank is
again assumed to be made of stainless steel but, due
to its non-cylindrical shape, the value of Km is now
4000 m2/s2 for the same safety factor of 3.5. The
propellant density is taken equal to 556 kg/m3.
• For the T3µPS, the only variable mass is assumed to
be the mass of the cool gas generators (CGG); it is
assumed to install the CGG units outside the
propulsion system plenum, the size and mass of
which remains therefore the same whatever the
needed amount of propellant (and, therefore, of
CGG) is. Each CGG unit is loaded with 4.21 g of
usable propellant and has a total mass of 16.3 g and Fig. 6: Required propellant mass for the four candidate
a volume of approximately 16.7 cm3. propulsion systems as a function of the required
velocity change (cyan=NANOPS; blue=Vacco;
• For the MEMS-Resistojet, a cylindrical stainless
green= T3µPS; red=MEMS resistojet).
steel tank is assumed to be used, similarly to the case
of the NANOPS. The corresponding value of Km is
therefore, also in this case, 8000 m2/s2. The
propellant is assumed to be stored in gaseous state at M TOT = A ⋅ ∆v + B
ambient temperature, leading to a density equal to
5.613 kg/m3. In order to achieve a thrust level
comparable to that of the T3µPS, it is assumed to use
16 thruster units in parallel. The mass of some
components (like the valves and pipes for feeding
the propellant to the thruster units) is not precisely
known yet, and is therefore not taken into account in
this analysis; however, this additional mass can be
estimated to be not higher than 100 g.
The results of the analysis are shown in the
following Figures. More in detail, Fig. 6 shows the
required propellant mass (with margin) for the candidate
propulsion systems as a function of the required velocity
change, while the estimated total propulsion system Fig. 7: Estimated total mass for the four candidate
mass is shown in Fig. 7. propulsion systems as a function of the required
Analysis of Fig. 7 clearly shows that the T3µPS velocity change (cyan=NANOPS; blue=Vacco;
system, thanks to the significant latest improvements in green= T3µPS; red=MEMS resistojet).

IAC-12-C4.6.2 Page 5 of 8
63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.
The curves of Fig. 7 can be approximated as straight
lines, with the fitting coefficients A and B given in
Table 3.
NANOPS Vacco T3µPS MEMS
Resistojet
Α [g*s/m] 10.1053 7.2692 22.2493 46.0461
Β [g] 437.418 451.225 131.33 8.3218
Table 3: Fitting coefficients for the total propulsion
system mass curves of Fig. 7.
Another significant parameter is the total thrust time:
for the design value of the velocity change (6.3 m/s) it
can be estimated to be equal to 708 s for the NANOPS,
451 s for the Vacco propulsion system, 4138 s for the
T3µPS and 4091 s for the MEMS resistojet. Note,
however, that this last value becomes as high as 65456 s
if only one resistojet unit is considered: in general, the
higher thrust time for the T3µPS and the MEMS
resistojet is due to their significantly lower thrust level.
The relatively poor performance of the MEMS-
resistojet system shown by Fig. 7 is mainly a
consequence of the assumption of storing the propellant
(N2) in gaseous state at a low pressure and the
consequent very low propellant density. For the same
reason, the estimated tank volume is extremely high if
compared to the other two candidate propulsion systems
where a tank is present, as shown by Fig. 8. The tank
volume required by the MEMS resistojet is
approximately 2 orders of magnitude higher than the
others and, in any case, not compliant to the QB50
requirements. This particular option is therefore not
applicable to the DelFFi project case.
Fig. 8: Estimated tank volume for the candidate
propulsion systems as a function of the required
velocity change (cyan=NANOPS; blue=Vacco;
red=MEMS resistojet).
IAC-12-C4.6.2
In order to overcome this problem and to take
advantage of the higher specific impulse obtained by
means of the propellant heating, one first option is
represented by increasing the pressure at which the
gaseous propellant is stored in the tank. This is in fact a
viable option, because preliminary tests have shown that
the maximum tank pressure can be increased up to at
least 20 bar for both the T3µPS and the MEMS
resistojet; in addition, as already recalled in the previous
Sections, no definite requirements are given so far for
the maximum allowed pressure in the QB50 satellites.
To further investigate this option, Fig. 9 shows the
estimated tank volume for the MEMS resistojet, as a
function of the tank pressure, for the design value of the
velocity change (6.3 m/s). The Figure shows that
significant improvements are indeed produced by
increasing the pressure, but the tank volume is still in
the order of magnitude of 103 cc for pressures up to 20
bar, and it therefore remains not compliant to the QB50
requirements.
Fig. 9: Estimated tank volume for the MEMS resistojet,
as a function of the tank pressure, for ∆v = 6.3 m/s.
The results shown so far suggest that a good option
for further improving the performance of the propulsion
system is to combine the MEMS resistojet units with the
cool gas generators used by the T3µPS system. In this
way the total propulsion system mass and the volume
required by the propellant storage components can be
significantly reduced, as clearly shown in Fig. 9 and
Fig. 10.
By using the CGG units, the total volume needed for
storing the propellant is now of the same order of
magnitude with respect to the tank volume of the
NANOPS and the Vacco propulsion system, and in any
case well in line with the QB50 volume requirements.
The number of CGG units required for the design ∆v
value (6.3 m/s), in this case, is 6. The total propulsion
system mass is decreased too, and its estimated value at
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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.
∆v = 6.3 m/s is equal to 100.4 g, thus significantly lower
than the QB50 requirement of 330 g. This finding
continues to be valid if an additional mass of
approximately 100 g is added to the total mass of the
MEMS resistojet system for taking into account
elements which are not considered by the present
analysis (like, for example, the piping and the valves
between the cool gas generators and the thruster units).
Fig. 9: Estimated tank volume or total volume of the
CGG units, as functions of the required velocity
change (cyan=NANOPS; blue=Vacco; red=MEMS
resistojet with propellant stored in CGG units).
Fig. 10: Estimated total mass of the MEMS resistojet
propulsion system, as a function of the required
velocity change, with two different propellant
storage options (solid line=CGG units; dashed
line=stainless steel tank).
IAC-12-C4.6.2
V. CONCLUSIONS
The analysis presented in this paper, even if very
preliminary and lacking several details (especially with
respect to the exact actual mass of the components
constituting the candidate micro-propulsion systems)
confirms that propellant heating, with its consequent
specific impulse increase, can lead to significant
advantages in terms of the total propulsion system mass,
while still being compliant to the stringent volume
requirements of micro- and nano-satellites. In order to
achieve this result, however, it is needed to combine the
beneficial aspects of the MEMS resistojet design
proposed by TU Delft with a high-density propellant
storage system like the cool gas generator units used in
the T3µPS system developed by TNO, TU Delft and the
University of Twente. An effort to this direction is
already being done by TNO that, also on the basis of the
results shown by the present paper, has started the
development of an “advanced cold gas propulsion
system”. The system combines the CGG units with a
MEMS resistojet and its present design, including 16
cool gas generators, allows for a ∆v of 20 m/s and a
thrust level of 9.5 mN with a total system mass of 443 g.
It is worth noticing that these numbers are very close to
the ones shown by the solid line in Fig. 10 if we include
the already mentioned additional mass of 100 g to take
into account all the additional components not yet
considered, thus confirming the effectiveness of the
analysis presented in this paper.
The advantage of the proposed solution is even more
evident if the total velocity change required by the
mission is lower than 20 m/s, making it particularly
suitable to the DelFFi project. Despite of these very
good perspectives, however, a further system analysis is
still required in order to ensure the compliance between
the propulsion system power requirements and the
mission power budget.
It is also interesting to observe that the two other
solutions analysed by this paper, the Canadian
NANOPS and the Vacco propulsion system, are
characterized by a significantly higher thrust level if
compared to the requirements of the QB50 mission. It
would therefore be worthwhile to analyse their down-
side scalability in order to understand how much mass
could be saved by reducing the number of thrusters used
in the system.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The cool gas generator technology development is
partly supported by the Dutch SME Cool Gas Generator
Technology. The authors would like to express their
gratitude to all the students and colleagues who have
collaborated to the micro-propulsion research activities
carried out at TU-Delft and TNO.
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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright ©2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

VII. NOMENCLATURE Propellant Cool Gas Generator Technology, 57th

International Astronautical Congress, Valencia, Spain,
Acronyms
2006
CanX Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment
6
CGG Cool Gas Generator Moerel, J.L.P.A., et al., Development of Micro-
ESA European Space Agency Propulsion System Technologies for Minisatellites in the
MEMS Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Netherlands, 5th International Space Propulsion
NANOPS Nano Propulsion System Conference, Heraklion, Greece, 2008
NASA National Aeronautics & Space Administration 7
Bouwmeester, J., et al., Design Status of the Delfi-Next
T3µPS TNO, TU-Delft, UTwente Micro-Propulsion
Nanosatellite Project, 61st International Astronautical
System
Congress, Prague, Czech Republic, 2010
TNO Netherlands Organization for Applied
8
Scientific Research Tittu Varghese, M., et al., A Silicon-Based MEMS
Resistojet for Propelling Cubesats, 62nd International
Symbols Astronautical Congress, Cape Town, South Africa, 2011
A Fitting coefficient for the MTOT curve [g*s/m] 9
Erichsen, P., et al., Directions of Potential Increase in
B Fitting coefficient for the MTOT curve [g]
Impulse Performance of Spacecraft Propulsion Systems,
Isp Vacuum specific impulse [s]
10th International Workshop on Combustion and
Km Tank scaling constant [m2/s2]
Propulsion, Lerici, Italy, 2003
MP Propellant mass [g]
10
MT Storage tank mass [g] Gill, E., et al., Formation Flying within a
MTOT Total prop. system mass, with propellant [g] Constellation of Nano-Satellites: The QB50 Mission,
pMAX Maximum operating pressure [bar] Acta Astronautica, Elsevier Science Ltd.,
pT Propellant pressure in the storage tank [bar] j.actaastro.2012.04.029, 2012
T Thrust [mN] 11
Mauthe, S., et al., The Design and Test of a Compact
VT Storage tank volume [cm3]
Propulsion System for CanX Nanosatellite Formation
∆v Mission velocity change [m/s]
Flying, 19th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small
Satellites, Logan, United States, 2005
12
VIII. REFERENCES Sarda, K., et al., Canadian Advanced Nanospace
1 Experiment 2 Orbit Operations: Two Years of Pushing
Johnson, L., et al., NASA Technology Area Roadmap
the Nanosatellite Performance Envelope, 61st
for In Space Propulsion Technologies, 2010
International Astronautical Congress, Prague, Czech
2
ESA, European Space Technology Master Plan , Issue Republic, 2010
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