Smallsats, cube-sats, micro-sats, nano-sats, every kind of new generation miniaturized satellites have unique liquid propellant management constraints if the satellite uses liquid propellants in any…

This federal contract award is a grant for research to Purdue University, a non-profit institution of higher education, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. The grant, valued at $175,922.00, is from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center. The research aims to address NASA's technology needs related to the optimization of thrusters and propulsion systems for small satellites, including cubesats, microsats, and nanosats. Specifically, the project will explore the use of conformal propellant tanks and passive propellant management devices to address the unique challenges of liquid propellant management in small satellite systems. The grant does not have a set-aside designation. As a major research university, Purdue University has extensive experience supporting federal agencies, including NASA, through both contract and grant awards across a wide range of scientific and technological domains.

Smallsats, cube-sats, micro-sats, nano-sats, every kind of new generation miniaturized satellites have unique liquid propellant management constraints if the satellite uses liquid propellants in any volume. The smaller volume of the smallsat􀁄bus􀁄 is now driving design towards conformal propellant tanks which optimize volume inside a small SAT, unlike traditional axisymmetric pressure vessels used in large satellites. Maneuvering, swarming, collaborative, and adaptive smallsats and systems of smallsats are all in development, bringing novel new demands on propellant management in orbit. NASA􀁄s technology roadmap lists the optimization of the thruster and propulsion system to meet smallsat mission-specific requirements as a technology challenge. The proposed research addresses these and other NASA spaceflight technology needs. At the small lengths scales of smallsats, the traditional spherical and similar axisymmetric geometries for minimum-weight pressure vessels are not required and innovative volume-efficient conformal tanks are legitimate design options. The interiors of the novel new tanks require passive control of liquid propellants as in traditional large satellites and this passive control is performed with surface tension propellant management devices (pmds). Pmds are sheet metal vanes, traps (sumps), sponges, galleries and screen designed to maintain liquid at the tank outlet, deliver gas-free propellant to thrusters, and control the location of the mass center of the liquid for superior attitude control and efficient use of propellants. Cubes, cylinders, rectangular parallelepipeds, conformal l-shaped volumes, and similar are combined with internal corners in the expected new generation of volume-efficient smallsat tanks which require proof of operations in weightlessness. Parabolic flight testing provides an efficient means to rapidly evaluate the zero-g control and draining performance of a new generation of propellant tank geometries and propellant management device design options enabled and necessitated by various smallsats.