Pulsed Plasma Thrusters for Primary Propulsion and Attitude Control of a Small All Electrical Satellite

A small all electrical satellite is planned for a lunar mission scheduled for launch 2008 by the Institute for Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart. Due to its inherent characteristics a Pulsed Plasma Thruster was chosen for propelling the spacecraft First steps were taken towards building and dimensioning this thruster. In this paper, a summary of the requirements towards the thruster system is given. A design for a modular testing approach is introduced, with which the optimal configuration for the pulsed plasma thruster can be determined. This modular thruster will be installed within the newly established vacuum tank. With this setup different parameters of the thruster will be analyzed. Further, the individual components of the thruster, such as propellant, electrodes, capacitor and igniter. are examined and criteria for evaluation discussed. A short description of the physics used for simulation of the thruster dynamics is given.