Solid Propellant MicroThruster : an alternative propulsion device for nanosatellite

With the aim to reduce cost and increase reliability, MEMS technology penetrates space market and new MEMS components are developed for Space application. Among them, micropropulsion devices is an active field of technological research. Several micropropulsion option are under development : the thrust is produced either from a electrical source (electrical thruster) or a chemical source (chemical thruster). LAAS has selected a chemical thruster option and develops arrays of solid propellant thruster. The concept of solid propellant thruster is based on the high rate combustion of one single propellant stored in a combustion chamber. The lack of restart ability is compensated by the fabrication of 2D addressed arrays of microthrusters. Each single thruster consists of an assembling of 3 parts. The main application of the microthruster is the micropropulsion for microsatellites (20-100kg) or nanosatellites (<20kg). In this paper, after an overview of the different micro thruster option under development, we present the design and fabrication of the solid propellant microthruster arrays. We give ignition and combustion test results. In this paper, we also present the microthrust balance used for thrust characterization.