The design, development and test of one newton hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

A monopropellant system is one of the propulsion system types used in space which uses a single substance that reacts or decomposes by itself to a hot gas, releasing energy in the form of heat. This system has medium performance where the specific impulse range is between 130 and 225 seconds. The hydrazine liquid is the most used for monopropellant systems because it gives a good performance. However, hydrazine is a very toxic and inflammable substance that has an implication on the security of the persons during testing of the system. In addition, its freezing point is around 1.5 degrees C which can induce thermal problems during the spacecraft's mission. An alternative solution is to use hydrogen peroxide known as green propellant, which can be stored as liquid, and has high density level. An investigation and studies have been performed to develop new hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thrusters for application in the future satellites. The decomposition technology of hydrogen peroxide has been also used for the development of bipropellant and hybrid rocket engines. This paper presents the design, performances and tests of a one newton hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster. The test results obtained show that the monopropellant thruster gives good performances where the specific impulse is around 170 seconds. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.