SEDSAT-2 Payload Design Notes 20070421
From SEDSWiki
SEDSAT2: Payload Study –
Electric propulsion
This idea has been forwarded by the Payload team to the ADCS team. Reason: Sounds interesting, but would be an ADCS thing even if it was meant as a proof of concept.
Purpose: Use EP as a secondary payload.
Approach
The idea is to use a small electric thruster (to slowly "climb" higher in the orbit by constantly accelerating the cubesat) as a secondary payload, to prove that Electric Propulsion (EP) is one of the most innovative propulsion there currently is.
There are many EP solutions, but FEEP are particularly suitable for missions requiring thrusts in the sub-millinewton level. FEEPs feature unmatched performance at the µN thrust level. FEEP has no moving parts (no valves, no pressurized gases) and has a self-contained propellant reservoir.
Since we want to use the EP to climb higher in orbit, we need enough thrust. To get something close to 1mN of thrust, the thruster (with FEEP) will have a mass on at least 200g. And as we all know, the entire payload has a limit on 200g. The only cubesat that has used some sort om EP was a double-sized cubesat (the ION Cubesat, with a weight-limit on 2KG) that used Micro-Vacuum Arc Thrusters (mVAT).
