Novel Liquid monopropellants, Combustion Processes, Materials and Fabrication Techniques For Micro-Mesoscale Propulsion Systems

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and the University of Southern California (Professor Paul Ronney) propose to develop novel meso (~ mm scale) to micro (~ tens to hundreds micron) scale chemical propulsion systems envisioned for future miniaturized satellites. In Phase I, we will synthesize and characterize new high performance ionic liquids as monopropellants for these systems. Specific catalysts will be used to decompose the propellants; ignition will be achieved using special hypergols. We will investigate new combustion processes and thermodynamic cycles that recognize and take advantage of the unique physicochemical processes at microscales. This will enable us to produce highly simplified, robust, and reliable propulsion system designs using very low-cost materials and fabrication processes compared to the current design philosophy of simply scaling down macroscale devices to microscales and using micromachined silicon as the material of construction. Our designs will also use innovative components/devices that result in a propulsion system with almost no moving parts. In Phase II, we will build and demonstrate a bench scale prototype of the micropropulsion system.