Development of Ceramic Based 500 N Class Bipropellant Thruster

Paper number

IAC-05-C4.3.01

Author

Dr. Shujiro Sawai, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Coauthor

Prof. Kuninori Uesugi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Prof. Eiichi Sato, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Katsumi Furukawa, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan

Year

2005

Abstract

Ceramics are one of the attractive materials for the spacecraft on-board thrusters because of their superior performance on heat resistance. However they are brittle, and thus they have not been used in the real flight missions. It might be fractured due to mechanical vibration at launch, thermal shock at firing, or by collision of space debris.
The present authors have developed a Si-based monolithic ceramic thruster of bipropellant 500 N class, and have conducted mechanical vibration tests and firing tests on ground. SN282 silicon nitride (Kyocera) was selected for the material because of its high fracture toughness. Test results confirmed its feasibility in accordance with the thermal shock and launch environment. Also is indicated the possibility of improving the performance by allowing a higher chamber temperature.
This paper summarizes the status of this collaborative development of the ceramic thruster by MHI and ISAS / JAXA.

Abstract document

IAC-05-C4.3.01.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-05-C4.3.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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