Lifetime Improvement of Large Scale Green Monopropellant Thrusters via Novel, Long-Life Catalysts

Busek proposes to develop and life-test a flight-weight, 5N class green monopropellant thruster in Phase II. The most important feature that sets this thruster apart from other similar devices will be the use of an innovative, long-life catalyst. This proprietary catalyst, constructed without any bed plate or ceramic substrate, has the potential to suppress catalyst-related performance degradation problems that often plague monopropellant thrusters. The Phase II thruster in essence will be a matured version of the highly-successful Phase I prototype, with the addition of high-temperature nozzle material. To further demonstrate the design's scalability, a 100N class thruster will be developed and demonstrated at the end of Phase II.