Additively Manufactured Hybrid Propulsion System for Smallsat Deorbit

With the proliferation of Earth-orbiting spacecraft across commercial, exploration, and national security missions, space traffic and debris management is emerging among the major challenges facing 21st-century spacecraft.With the growth of new satellite trafficcomes a corresponding and significant increase of space debris hazard and the associated risk of orbital collisions. Increasingly, there are calls for active end-of-life measures to de-orbit inactive spacecraft. An efficient, readily available, onboard propulsion system is necessary to provide in-space maneuvering and deorbit capabilities for future smallsats operating in LEO. Hybird is developing a retrobraking propulsion system, named RT-5X, whose initial application is focused on deorbit of small spacecraft in LEO. RT-5X combines the smart advantages of liquid propulsion (throttleability, restartablility, low impulse bit) with the operational simplicity of solid propulsion (high reliability, low-cost design, storability) in an entirely green propellant package. RT-5X offers advantages over the current active and passive deorbit systems, addresses the key pain points of satellite deorbit customers, and incorporates: Ultra-low costs to minimize the financial impact to mission developers Reliable, safe de-orbit transfer through controlled thrust (throttleable and restartable) Flexibility across constellation and spacecraft bus sizes High in-class propulsive performance (Isp up to 300s) Hazard avoidance maneuvering and orbit raising in addition to end-of-life servicing An efficient, readily available, spacecraft propulsion system is necessary to provide in-space maneuvering and deorbit capabilities for future smallsats operating in LEO. Hybird is developing a retrobraking propulsion system, named RT-5X, whose initial application is focused on deorbit of small spacecraft in LEO. RT-5X combines the “smart” advantages of liquid propulsion (throttleability, restartablility, low impulse bit) with the operational simplicity of solid propulsion (high reliability, low-cost design, storability) in an entirely “green” propellant package. RT-5X offers advantages over the current active and passive deorbit systems, addresses the key pain points of satellite deorbit customers, and incorporates: Ultra-low costs to minimize the financial impact to mission developers Reliable, safe de-orbit transfer through controlled thrust (throttleable and restartable) Flexibility across constellation and spacecraft bus sizes High in-class propulsive performance (Isp up to 300s) Hazard avoidance maneuvering and orbit raising in addition to end-of-life servicing Phase II will advance the RT-5X hybrid architecture toward flight readiness and a commercially available product. This effort will mature RT-5X through TRL 6 by demonstrating the integrated hybrid propulsion system in a relevant environment. The project team will refine the system design and engineering documentation, investigate spacecraft interfaces and control methods, mature and characterize hybrid motor performance, and fabricate and test an integrated hybrid system. Phase II will demonstrate a viable hybrid propulsion system that meets the deorbit needs of small spacecraft by completing the following objectives: Advance RT-5X through a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) to formalize system design points and to validate low SWaP-C for spacecraft deorbit applications. Refine RT-5X’s motor design through iterative hotfire testing to deliver a highly characterized hybrid motor capable of reliable in-space maneuvering. Design the architecture for RT-5X’s modular propulsion controller to define the digit interface required for the host spacecraft to perform propulsive maneuvers. Fabricate a prototype RT-5X system and complete a hotfire testing campaign to demonstrate and validate deorbit system performance and achieve TRL 6. Advance customer discovery activities to refine commercialization approach, advance the SBIR transition strategy, and secure strategic partnerships.
Benefits: RT-5X can be used to perform satellite deorbit, collision avoidance, or other in-space delta-V maneuvers on a range of NASA smallsat missions across technology demonstrations, Earth observation missions, or similar mission sets. RT-5X is aligned with NASA smallsat low-cost mission objectives for low-cost maneuver and deorbit. Hybird’s deorbit propulsion system presents applications across commercial and defense mission sets to deorbit proliferated spacecraft constellations following end-of-mission. While the primary application is deorbit, the hybrid propulsion’s restartability allows for multiple burns and could be additionally used for collision avoidance, orbit raising, last mile delivery, or other maneuvers.