Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: CU AEROSPACE L.L.C.
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2018-04-23 to 2022-01-21
Current total value of award: $1129926
Description: EO14042 CU AEROSPACE (CUA) PROPOSES THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF A FIBER-FED PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER (FPPT) THAT WILL ENABLE CIS-LUNAR AND DEEP SPACE MISSIONS FOR SMALL SATELLITES. WHILE CLASSIC PPT TECHNOLOGY IS MATURE, IT HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN LIMITED BY ITS PROPELLANT LOAD TO PRECISION POINTING AND SMALL DELTA-V APPLICATIONS. A RECENT THRUSTER ADVANCEMENT BY CUA, MONOFILAMENT VAPORIZATION PROPULSION (MVP), ADAPTED EXTRUSION 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY TO FEED POLYMER PROPELLANT FIBER TO A RESISTOJET THRUST CHAMBER. FPPT LEVERAGES THIS ADVANCEMENT BY FEEDING PTFE FIBER TO ITS DISCHARGE REGION, ENABLING CLASS-LEADING PPT PROPELLANT THROUGHPUT AND VARIABLE EXPOSED FUEL AREA. AN INNOVATIVE, HIGHLY PARALLEL CERAMIC CAPACITOR BANK DRAMATICALLY LOWERS SYSTEM SPECIFIC MASS. FPPT IS INHERENTLY SAFE ITS NON-PRESSURIZED, NON-TOXIC, INERT PROPELLANT AND CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS MINIMIZE RANGE SAFETY CONCERNS. THE PHASE I EFFORT ACCUMULATED MORE THAN 582,000 PULSES, WITH THRUST-STAND MEASURED IBITS FROM 0.057   0.241 MN-S AT 960   2400 S SPECIFIC IMPULSE, REPRESENTING A DRAMATIC ENHANCEMENT FROM STATE-OF-ART PPT TECHNOLOGY. A PHASE II 1U FPPT THRUSTER WILL PROVIDE 2200   4900 N-S TOTAL IMPULSE, ENABLING 0.4   1.0 KM/S DELTA-V FOR A 5 KG CUBESAT. A 1U DESIGN VARIATION WITH 590 G PROPELLANT ENABLES AS MUCH AS ~10,000 N-S AND 2 KM/S FOR A 5 KG CUBESAT. ADVANCING THE TECHNOLOGY TO A 2U FORM FACTOR INCREASES PROPELLANT MASS TO 1.4 KG AND DELTA-V TO 10.7 KM/S FOR AN 8 KG CUBESAT. CUA ANTICIPATES DELIVERING TO NASA A LIFE-TESTED FLIGHT-LIKE &GT; 2,000 N-S 1U INTEGRATED SYSTEM BY THE END OF PHASE II INCLUDING THE ADVANCED THRUSTER HEAD WITH IGNITER SYSTEM, PTFE FIBER FEED SYSTEM, POWER PROCESSING UNIT, AND CONTROL ELECTRONICS.