Fiber-fed Advanced Pulsed Plasma Thruster (FPPT)

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 > 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.