Life Firing Test of 1 N-class Monopropellant Thruster Development Model -Part I: Environmental Test and Steady State Performance

Abstract

Acceptance level random vibration and life firing test for development model of 1 N-class monopropellant thruster have been performed. From the results of random vibration, the natural frequency of the dual thurst module composed of 1 N-class development model thrusters was higher than the part level requirement(>100 Hz) and the structural robustness was verified. Thrust decrease of steady sate was below 7% and thrust instability was within ±5% in the life firing test using over 20 kg propellant throughput. The computerized tomography for catalyst bed showed a less than 7% of catalyst loss and it revealed the design appropriateness of the current thruster development model.