Design, development and testing of 1N Hydrogen Peroxide thruster

The work presented in this paper is about design, development and testing of 1N monopropellant thruster for satellite applications. Pure silver screens are incorporated in the combustion chamber (also known as catalyst chamber) to decompose High Test Peroxide (HTP) into combustion product. The paper presents the designed configuration of thruster assembly and accessories for ground testing i.e. propellant feed system, solenoid actuated thruster valve, injector, catalyst chamber and nozzle etc. The testing has been conducted using highly pure 90 % High Test Peroxide in conformance with the MIL-P-16005E standards. Compatibility and stability tests have also been performed to ensure safe handling, storage and utilization of High Test Peroxide. The life tests have been performed on a pressure fed system consisting of propellant tank manufactured from SS-316. Standard procedures are being adapted for cleaning and passivation of propellant feed system. Thruster tested successfully for over 9000 sec in steady state mode without considerable degradation of chamber pressure and pressure roughness. Furthermore, this paper presents the results of concept study and also discusses different factors which can affect the performance and life of thruster such as catalyst bed loading, catalyst bed compression, propellant channeling, thermal standoff & preheating of thruster etc.