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Development of High-Density Propulsion System Technologies for Interplanetary Small Satellites and Cubesats University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 7-2020 Development of High-Density Propulsion System Technologies for Interplanetary Small Satellites and CubeSats Morgan Andrew Roddy University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Aeronautical Vehicles Commons, Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons, Engineering Mechanics Commons, Propulsion and Power Commons, Space Vehicles Commons, and the Structures and Materials Commons Citation Roddy, M. A. (2020). Development of High-Density Propulsion System Technologies for Interplanetary Small Satellites and CubeSats. Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/ etd/3813 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Development of High-Density Propulsion System Technologies for Interplanetary Small Satellites and CubeSats A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Microelectronics-Photonics by Morgan Andrew Roddy Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics, 2010 University of Arkansas Master of Science in Microelectronics-Photonics, 2012 July 2020 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ____________________________________ Po-Hao Adam Huang, Ph.D. Dissertation Director ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Larry Roe, Ph.D. Ingrid Fritsch, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Silke Spiesshoefer, Ph.D. Rick Wise, Ph.D. Committee Member Ex Officio Committee Member The following signatories attest that all software used in this dissertation was legally licensed for use by Morgan Roddy for research purposes and publication. __________________________________ __________________________________ Mr. Morgan Roddy, Student Dr. Adam Huang, Dissertation Director This dissertation was submitted to http://www.turnitin.com for plagiarism review by the TurnItIn company’s software. The signatories have examined the report on this dissertation that was returned by TurnItIn and attest that, in their opinion, the items highlighted by the software are incidental to common usage and are not plagiarized material. __________________________________ __________________________________ Dr. Rick Wise, Program Director Dr. Adam Huang, Dissertation Director ©2020 by Morgan Andrew Roddy All Rights Reserved Abstract The goal of this research was to support the development of a novel propulsion system for small satellites (<180 kg) and CubeSats. This was pursued by conducting a collection of studies that were designed to provide engineering data that would be critical in designing a functional prototype. The novel propulsion system was conceived by the author to provide best-in-class performance for the small satellite and CubeSat families of spacecraft. This context presents specific design requirements that the presented technology attempts to satisfy. The most critical among these is high density; the propellant was designed to be stored with high density and the thruster was designed to be as compact as possible. The propulsion system is composed of two primary elements, a propellant generator and a thruster. The propellant generator works by sublimating a solid crystal into vapor and then using this vapor to etch a dense metal. The resulting gaseous byproducts of this reaction are the propellant. This dissertation used xenon difluoride (XeF2) vapor to etch tungsten (W) which react to form xenon gas (Xe) and tungsten hexafluoride 3 3 (WF6). This approach gave a theoretical propellant storage density 5.40 g/cm ; and 5.17 g/cm was demonstrated. The sublimation dynamics of the XeF2 were studied as a function of surface area and temperature and it was found to be suitable for the intended application due to its high effluence rate; that is, it sublimates fast enough to be useful. The sublimation rates are on the order of 10’s of µg/s. The etch rate of XeF2 on W was also studied and found to be suitably fast to provide useful amounts of reactants for use as a propellant, again on the order of 1’s of µg/s. The thruster is an electrostatic radio frequency (RF) ion thruster design and is manufactured with Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (LTCC) materials system and manufacturing technology. Manufacturing samples of the thruster were built at the University of Arkansas in July 2015 and tested at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in May 2018. Testing validated the viability of the LTCC thruster and provided valuable information on how to improve the thruster’s design. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have supported my academic and professional pursuits over the past fifteen years. First and foremost, I want to thank my wife, Denise Beike, for all of her love, support, advice, encouragement, and strength over the last decade. I wouldn’t have made it without you! Thanks go out to my parents, Kurt and Lisa Roddy, who through their love and support have helped me fulfil many life-long dreams, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks go out to Adam Huang for being a mentor and friend over the last five years. I have learned and grown tremendously under your guidance and I owe you a debt of gratitude. Thanks go out to my lab mates for your friendship and comradery: John Lee and Josh Pennington. Thanks go out to my many mentors and friends who over the years have helped me stay the course: Ken Vickers, Rick Wise, Scott Kirkpatrick, Elaine Kirkpatrick, Marij Sayed, Azad Siahmakoun, Donald Richards, Jeff Brown, Linea Hess, Karen Hulsebosch, Kipp Kraus, Chris Jose, Mike Horn, Ramzi Zahreddine, Katie Kraigh, Jeff Beckman, Alice Forehand, Chris Leibs, Jeremy Holm, and Bruce Masse. Thanks to my committee, Larry Roe, Ingrid Fritsch, Silke Spiesshoefer, and Rick Wise, for your time and guidance. This work was supported by a generous Walton Foundation Doctoral Academy Fellowship award. The research was also supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Cooperative Agreement Notice-Dual Use Technology Development grant at MSFC NNM17AA15A. Cheers, Morgan Roddy Table of Contents 1.Background .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Small Satellite Technologies ............................................................................................ 1 1.2. Propulsion System Fundamentals and Tradeoffs ............................................................. 4 1.3 Xenon Difluoride and Tungsten ......................................................................................11 1.4 Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramics ............................................................................ 12 1.5 Current State of the Art in CubeSat / Small Satellite Propulsion ................................... 13 1.6 Proposed Propulsion System Architecture ..................................................................... 24 2. Sublimation Dynamics of Xenon Difluoride ..................................................................... 28 2.1 Methodology and Experimental Apparatus to Study Sublimation Dynamics of XeF2 .. 29 2.2 Pilot Data and Initial Observations ................................................................................ 32 2.3 Sublimation Dynamics Full Factorial Study .................................................................. 51 2.4 Sublimation Dynamics Conclusions .............................................................................. 76 3. Tungsten Etching with Xenon Difluoride Vapor ............................................................... 78 3.1 Overview of Etching Chemistry ..................................................................................... 79 3.2 The Dynamic Etch Experiment ...................................................................................... 83 3.3 The Static Etch Experiment.......................................................................................... 100 3.4 Tungsten Etching Conclusions ......................................................................................112 4. LTCC Electrostatic Thruster .............................................................................................114 4.1 Prototype Design and Fabrication .................................................................................115 4.2 Thruster Testing ............................................................................................................ 130 4.3 LTCC-ET Conclusions ................................................................................................. 144 5. 5. Conclusions and Future Work ...................................................................................... 146 5.1 Future Work .................................................................................................................. 147 5.2 Impacts on the Field ..................................................................................................... 150 References ..................................................................................................................................
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