Electric Propulsion Subsystem Architecture for an All-Electric Spacecraft

Coletti, Michele; Grubisic, Angelo; Collingwood, Cheryl; Gabriel, Stephen

doi:10.5772/13567

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This problem is of special interest in the context of multi-axis attitude control problem, when non orthogonal thruster configurations are adopted. In particular, if on-off low-thrust actuators are employed, the minimization of the frequency of thruster firings becomes a key technological requirement (Coletti, Grubisic, Collingwood, & Gabriel, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimum switching control for systems of coupled double integrators

2015

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimum switching control for systems of coupled double integrators

2015

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“…Conventional resistojets using xenon propellant operate at a temperature <1,000 K, whereas for xenon c p = 158 Jkg -1 K -1 , with a resulting ISP is in the region of 50 s. ISP = u e /g 0 ≈ η n 2c p T 0/g 0 (1) On SSTL spacecraft platforms using xenon propulsion, a 30-Watt resistojet thruster improves ISP over cold gas systems from 30 s to 48 s [2,3]; a 60% increase in propellant efficiency for a few thousand GBP. The primary driver of high performance resistojet technology is now the all-electric GEO telecommunication bus [4,5]. All-electric spacecraft will carry Hall Effect Thruster (HET) or Gridded Ion Engines (GIE) for orbit raising and north-south station keeping, however additional reaction control system (RCS) thrusters are required for lower impulse requirements such as attitude, momentum control and possibly east-west station keeping functions usually requiring an additional hydrazine system at significant additional complexity and cost.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manufacturing of a high-temperature resistojet heat exchanger by selective laser melting

2017

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The paper presents the design, manufacturing and postproduction analysis of a novel high-temperature spacecraft resistojet heat exchanger manufactured through selective laser melting to validate the manufacturing approach. The work includes the analysis of critical features of a heat exchanger with integrated converging-diverging nozzle as a single piece element. The metrology of the component is investigated using optical analysis and profilometry to verify the integrity of components. A novel process of high-resolution micro-Computed Tomography (CT) is applied as a tool for volumetric non-destructive inspection and conformity since the complex geometry of the thruster does not allow internal examination. The CT volume data is utilised to determine a surface mesh on which a novel perform coordinate measurement technique is applied for nominal/actual comparison and wall thickness analysis. A thin-wall concentric tubular heat exchanger design is determined to meet dimensional accuracy requirements through nominal/actual comparison analysis. The work indicates the production of fine structures with feature sizes below 200 μm in 316L stainless via selective laser melting is feasible and opens up new possibilities for the future developments in multiple industries.

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“…Cold gas and electrothermal microthrusters, with thrust levels scaled down to the millinewton range, are particularly well suited for precise attitude control, providing very small impulse bits and a minimal excitation of the spacecraft flexible modes. While the poor fuel efficiency of cold gas systems restricts their use to operational environment where the delta-v budget is considerably low, the foreseen availability of very high temperature resistojet and hollow cathode technologies, providing a substantial increase of the thruster specific impulse, raises the possibility of replacing existing momentum exchange devices with simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive xenon microtrusters [6]. These thrusters must be operated in on/off mode, and restrictions on the duration and number of thruster firings have to be accounted for in the design of the attitude control system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

All-Electric Spacecraft Precision Pointing Using Model Predictive Control

Leomanni

Garulli

Giannitrapani

et al. 2015

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

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Recent technological advances in the development of electric microthrusters pave the way to the successful diffusion of all-electric spacecraft. Since pointing accuracy is a key requirement for space platforms, suitable control systems accounting for the peculiarity of electric on/off actuators have to be devised. In this paper, an attitude control system (ACS) for spacecraft equipped with cold gas and electrothermal xenon microthrusters is presented. The number of thruster firings, which has a key impact on the thruster lifetime, is explicitly taken into account in the control design phase. By adopting a model predictive control (MPC) approach, a cost functional including both fuel consumption and number of firing cycles is minimized at each time step, within a receding horizon scheme. The effectiveness of the proposed ACS is validated on a sample GEO mission and its performance is compared with different control laws involving on/off actuators.

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Electric Propulsion Subsystem Architecture for an All-Electric Spacecraft

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

Minimum switching control for systems of coupled double integrators

Minimum switching control for systems of coupled double integrators

Manufacturing of a high-temperature resistojet heat exchanger by selective laser melting

All-Electric Spacecraft Precision Pointing Using Model Predictive Control

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