The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Station-keeping with an electrospray propulsion system for low lunar polar mission on a 6u CubeSat

Station-keeping with an electrospray propulsion system for low lunar polar mission on a 6u CubeSat
Station-keeping with an electrospray propulsion system for low lunar polar mission on a 6u CubeSat
The suitability of electrospray propulsion for station keeping of a 6U CubeSat in lunar orbit is assessed. Lunar CubeSat missions are of interest with the launch of several CubeSat on-board the first Space Launch System launch. For interplanetary CubeSat missions, electrospray thrusters have the potential to provide good performance within the nanosat constraints. An electrospray thruster electrostatically accelerates charged droplets or ions, producing small thrusts at high specific impulse. To investigate the feasibility of using an electrospray system for station keeping, the maximum variation of orbital parameters for lunar polar orbits are evaluated. This was completed with the High Fidelity Orbit Dynamics (HiFi ODyn), developed at Politecnico di Milano for orbit long-term propagation. The Gauss-planetary equations were integrated over time considering a 100 x 100 Lunar Prospector 165 x 165 spherical harmonic solution (LP165P) gravity model of the Moon and both the Earth and the Sun considered as third body. Without any propulsion system over a period of 70 days typical variations of orbital elements for low quasi-circular lunar polar orbits were assessed. Moreover, the evolution of different orbits was evaluated, with varying eccentricity and inclination and fixed initial epoch, semi-major axis, argument of perigee, longitude of the ascending node and mean anomaly. Maps of the maximum variation of all the Keplerian elements for these orbits were created. These maps have eccentricity that varies between 0.01 and 0.045 and inclinations that span from 85 to 95 degrees. A micro-electrospray propulsion system being developed at the University of Southampton was then considered in the simulation to assess its ability to keep a stable orbit. Both power and mass/volume were constrained for a 6U CubeSat using a model of a micro-electrospray thruster that allow
s an estimate of the thrust and the specific impulse. With thrust values of between 0.3 mN and 1 mN and specific impulse value of between 1000 s and 4000 s some different manoeuvres were performed to assess the ability of the propulsion
system to maintain a prefixed value of an orbital parameter. The same maps were created with and without the electrospray propulsion system considered . It is demonstrated that the micro -electrospray system makes a
significant difference to the variation with time of the polar orbit when a proper manoeuvre is used considering also that the thrust value of such system is much lower than typical perturbations of these low polar orbits
.
Cubesat, Moon, Electrospray Propulsion, orbit design, orbit perturbations
International Astronautical Federation
Benetti, Michele
0113aac7-a614-403f-a8f3-bcb9dbf67e9c
Columbo, Camilla
bd1c89b0-dbd4-42ed-96a1-ba37bfab4df7
Ryan, Charlie
3627e47b-01b8-4ddb-b248-4243aad1f872
Benetti, Michele
0113aac7-a614-403f-a8f3-bcb9dbf67e9c
Columbo, Camilla
bd1c89b0-dbd4-42ed-96a1-ba37bfab4df7
Ryan, Charlie
3627e47b-01b8-4ddb-b248-4243aad1f872

Benetti, Michele, Columbo, Camilla and Ryan, Charlie (2017) Station-keeping with an electrospray propulsion system for low lunar polar mission on a 6u CubeSat. In 68th International Astronautical Congress, Adelaide (25th-29th September 2017). International Astronautical Federation. 15 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The suitability of electrospray propulsion for station keeping of a 6U CubeSat in lunar orbit is assessed. Lunar CubeSat missions are of interest with the launch of several CubeSat on-board the first Space Launch System launch. For interplanetary CubeSat missions, electrospray thrusters have the potential to provide good performance within the nanosat constraints. An electrospray thruster electrostatically accelerates charged droplets or ions, producing small thrusts at high specific impulse. To investigate the feasibility of using an electrospray system for station keeping, the maximum variation of orbital parameters for lunar polar orbits are evaluated. This was completed with the High Fidelity Orbit Dynamics (HiFi ODyn), developed at Politecnico di Milano for orbit long-term propagation. The Gauss-planetary equations were integrated over time considering a 100 x 100 Lunar Prospector 165 x 165 spherical harmonic solution (LP165P) gravity model of the Moon and both the Earth and the Sun considered as third body. Without any propulsion system over a period of 70 days typical variations of orbital elements for low quasi-circular lunar polar orbits were assessed. Moreover, the evolution of different orbits was evaluated, with varying eccentricity and inclination and fixed initial epoch, semi-major axis, argument of perigee, longitude of the ascending node and mean anomaly. Maps of the maximum variation of all the Keplerian elements for these orbits were created. These maps have eccentricity that varies between 0.01 and 0.045 and inclinations that span from 85 to 95 degrees. A micro-electrospray propulsion system being developed at the University of Southampton was then considered in the simulation to assess its ability to keep a stable orbit. Both power and mass/volume were constrained for a 6U CubeSat using a model of a micro-electrospray thruster that allow
s an estimate of the thrust and the specific impulse. With thrust values of between 0.3 mN and 1 mN and specific impulse value of between 1000 s and 4000 s some different manoeuvres were performed to assess the ability of the propulsion
system to maintain a prefixed value of an orbital parameter. The same maps were created with and without the electrospray propulsion system considered . It is demonstrated that the micro -electrospray system makes a
significant difference to the variation with time of the polar orbit when a proper manoeuvre is used considering also that the thrust value of such system is much lower than typical perturbations of these low polar orbits
.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 25 September 2017
Venue - Dates: 68th International Astronautical Congress 2017, , Adelaide, Australia, 2017-09-25 - 2017-09-29
Keywords: Cubesat, Moon, Electrospray Propulsion, orbit design, orbit perturbations

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 457391
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457391
PURE UUID: 0cf2f807-1e50-4465-89ef-cf4bca59838b

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Jun 2022 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 12:14

Export record

Contributors

Author: Michele Benetti
Author: Camilla Columbo
Author: Charlie Ryan

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×