Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft

IEEE As small satellites become more popular and capable, strategies to provide in-space propulsion increase in importance. Applications range from orbital changes and maintenance, attitude control and desaturation of reaction wheels to drag compensation and de-orbit at spacecraft end-of-life. Space...

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Main Authors: Krejci, David, Lozano, Paulo C
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Format: Article
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114401
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227
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author Krejci, David
Lozano, Paulo C
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Krejci, David
Lozano, Paulo C
author_sort Krejci, David
collection MIT
description IEEE As small satellites become more popular and capable, strategies to provide in-space propulsion increase in importance. Applications range from orbital changes and maintenance, attitude control and desaturation of reaction wheels to drag compensation and de-orbit at spacecraft end-of-life. Space propulsion can be enabled by chemical or electric means, each having different performance and scalability properties. The purpose of this review is to describe the working principles of space propulsion technologies proposed so far for small spacecraft. Given the size, mass, power, and operational constraints of small satellites, not all types of propulsion can be used and very few have seen actual implementation in space. Emphasis is given in those strategies that have the potential of miniaturization to be used in all classes of vehicles, down to the popular 1-L, 1-kg CubeSats and smaller.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1144012022-09-30T23:05:03Z Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft Krejci, David Lozano, Paulo C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Space Propulsion Lab Krejci, David Krejci, David Lozano, Paulo C IEEE As small satellites become more popular and capable, strategies to provide in-space propulsion increase in importance. Applications range from orbital changes and maintenance, attitude control and desaturation of reaction wheels to drag compensation and de-orbit at spacecraft end-of-life. Space propulsion can be enabled by chemical or electric means, each having different performance and scalability properties. The purpose of this review is to describe the working principles of space propulsion technologies proposed so far for small spacecraft. Given the size, mass, power, and operational constraints of small satellites, not all types of propulsion can be used and very few have seen actual implementation in space. Emphasis is given in those strategies that have the potential of miniaturization to be used in all classes of vehicles, down to the popular 1-L, 1-kg CubeSats and smaller. 2018-03-27T17:11:12Z 2018-03-27T17:11:12Z 2018-03 2018-03-06T18:32:31Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0018-9219 1558-2256 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114401 Krejci, David, and Paulo Lozano. “Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft.” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 106, no. 3, Mar. 2018, pp. 362–78. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2017.2778747 Proceedings of the IEEE Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Krejci
spellingShingle Krejci, David
Lozano, Paulo C
Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title_full Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title_fullStr Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title_full_unstemmed Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title_short Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
title_sort space propulsion technology for small spacecraft
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114401
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227
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