YUsend-1 Solid Propellant Microthruster Design, Fabrication and Testing

At the YUsend laboratory at York University, we have developed a solid propellant microthruster (SPT) design, developed with conventional materials and processes with future plan for MEMS fabrication. The proposed SPT design will be demonstrated on-board the YUsend-1 satellite. The objective will be to perform a technology demonstration in space conditions. The YUsend-1 prototype SPT consists of 36 individual thrusters with chambers 1.5 mm in diameter and approximately 3 mm in length. The propellant is a formulation of glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) and ammonium perchlorate (AP) with reduced viscosity for easy chamber filling. Impulse and thrust values were determined using a ballistic pendulum for no-nozzle, sonic and supersonic nozzle configurations. Throat diameters were approximately 600-700 μm. In all three configurations, ignition was successful. For the sonic and supersonic nozzles, a concentrated plume was visible for a burn duration of 1.3-1.6 s resulting in pendulum displacements of 1.2-1.8 mm. Observed thrust range was 0.15-0.28 mN which is consistent with existing SPT designs