2013-a-01

Performance Test of Mono-Propellant Propulsion System

for a Japanese Microsatellite Hodoyoshi-1
By Shutaro NISHIKIZAWA1) Takehiro OHIRA1) Hironori SAHARA1) Naoki MIYASHITA2) and Yusuke KURAMOTO2)
1)

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan

2)
AXELSPACE Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

Development of under-50kg-class microsatellites is recently increasing and their new utilization has also been proposed
by universities and non-governmental associations, where propulsion system for microsatellites tends to be eagerly desired
for their missions with orbit transfer such as formation flight, constellation, and end-of-life de-orbiting. As for propulsion,
chemical propulsion is the most suitable to microsatellite with progress in miniaturization because of its high thrust density,
short term injection, and easiness to handle. The conventional propulsion for satellite, however, is difficult to handle its
propellant, hydrazine, due to its toxicity and high cost of catalysts, so that universities and companies developing their
microsatellites have not installed such propulsion so far. Accordingly, we have been developing a propulsion system for
microsatellites based on 60wt% hydrogen peroxide solution because of its little toxicity, low cost, and handling properties
compared to the conventional one. Thus, we completed a mono-propellant propulsion system for microsatellites with the
policies of SAFTY FIRST and EFFECTIVE COTS. Now we are planning to demonstrate our propulsion system in a
Japanese microsatellite, Hodoyoshi-1, to execute its phase shift in orbit, and it has a mono-propellant thruster with 500mN
of thrust and 80 seconds of specific impulse. We have already developed its flight model and carried out its performance
test and mechanical environment test such as vibration test for its launch. This propulsion system has blow down system
which had a feed system equipped with tanks installing respective bladders pressured by pressurant gas, a set of
electromagnetic valves, and other elements and is suitable to adopt the feed system to small volume of microsatellite. In
addition, we developed a low-powered electronic substrate for our propulsion system to control its injection and to monitor
temperature and pressure. In this paper, we present the results of performance test with flight model, the electronic
substrate, and control program.
Key Words: Mono-Propellant Propulsion, Hydrogen Peroxide, Microsatellite

Nomenclature

T
M
k

:
:
:
:
:
:
:

Subscripts
S
:
G
:
L
:

1.

considered that chemical propulsion is very suitable for

propulsion system of the microsatellites due to its high thrust
density and little power consumption. Practicable propulsion
system for microsatellites, however, does not exist so far
while the conventional propulsion is awfully expensive due to
its unique and identifiable product characteristics developed
by proper specialists with quite high reliability. Moreover,
hydrazine is conventionally treated as the most principal
propellant for chemical propulsion, but the developers of
microsatellites are required to handle it under special
treatments with particular equipment such as hazmat suit and
gas mask because of its high toxicity, so that it is too difficult
to handle a hydrazine thruster in the universities and
non-governmental associations. Accordingly, we have been
developing a propulsion system for microsatellites based on
hydrogen peroxide solution because of its little toxicity, low
cost, and handling properties compared to the conventional
propulsion system. Thus, we completed a mono-propellant
propulsion system for microsatellites with the policies of
SAFTY FIRST and EFFECTIVE COTS. Now we are
planning to demonstrate our propulsion system in a Japanese
microsatellite, Hodoyoshi-1, to execute its phase shift in orbit.
The propulsion system has a mono-propellant thruster with
500 mN of thrust and 80 seconds of specific impulse. In this
paper, we present the mono-propellant propulsion system and

Mach number
Density
Ratio of specific heat of mixed gas
Boiling point of water
Molecular weight of mixed liquid
Bulk modulus of mixed liquid
void fraction

mixed flow
mixed gas
mixed liquid

Introduction

The development of under-50kg-class microsatellites is

recently increasing and its new usage also has been considered
at universities and non-governmental associations. The
propulsion system for microsatellites tends to be eagerly
desired for their missions with orbit transfer such as formation
flight, constellation, and end-of-life de-orbiting. We

result of its efficiency test.

2.

Propellant

We considered that hydrogen peroxide is suitable for

propulsion system of the microsatellites. The hydrogen
peroxide was strenuously researched as propellant in rocket
application before 1970, which has high concentration from of
70 to 99wt%. However, it is rare to use the high-concentration
hydrogen peroxide after 1970 due to the difficulty to handle
and store it. In the case of such a high-concentration hydrogen
peroxide, heat of decomposition is quite larger than that of its
vaporization (Fig. 1), so that its decomposition is accelerated
to explode storage tank once a little decomposition started.
That is why we chose the hydrogen peroxide with
concentration of up to 60wt% because its heat of
decomposition is lower than that of its vaporization and
sufficient stabilizer are contained in it to control its
self-decomposition. In addition, there is an advantage that it is
easy to purchase the up-to-60wt% hydrogen peroxide as a
COTS product.

Fig. 2. Feed system in propulsion

4.

Design of Catalyst Bed

We designed a catalyst bed due to realize a mono-propellant

thruster with 500 mN of thrust and 80 seconds of specific
impulse. The thruster obtains a thrust by heat of
decomposition of 60wt% hydrogen peroxide by a catalyst of
platinum. Thermochemical equation of hydrogen peroxide is
followed by
H 2O2 H 2O

Fig. 1. Heat of Decomposition/Vaporization

3.

1
O2 96140J
2

(1)

To design a catalyst bed, its volume was determined by

calculating the mass flow rate, as may be required. In addition,
oxygen and water are generated after the decomposition of
hydrogen peroxide. So the mixed flow consists of oxygen,
water, and hydrogen peroxide without being decomposed. We
calculated Mach number of this mixed flow by using the void
fraction of the mixed flow.

(h2o2.com)

Feed System

The typical feed system in propulsion consists of propellant

line and pressuring line. However, it is difficult to adopt the
feed system to microsatellite because it has too many elements
to install them into small volume of microsatellite. So we
introduced blow down system which had feed system
equipped with tanks installing respective bladders pressured
by pressurant gas, a set of electromagnetic valves, and other
elements as shown in Fig. 2. When electromagnetic valves
open, the bladders pressurized by the gas pressure supply
hydrogen peroxide to the thruster, then, hydrogen peroxide is
decomposed with a catalyst there to generate high-temperature
vapor and oxygen gas. There has a high-temperature mixture
of vapor, water liquid droplet, and oxygen gas, which is
injected from a nozzle to generate thrust. We already
evaluated its performance in injection tests on ground and in
vacuum, and are planning to conduct the detailed vacuum test
and mechanical environment test such as vibration test for its
launch. In this way, we succeeded to reduce the number of
elements again compared to the typical feed system in
propulsion.

CS

VG
VG VL
1

1

S

2
2
L C L G CG

S (1 ) L G
CG

CL

RGT
M

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

We calculated the catalyst bed volume from Mach number of

the mixed flow, specific impulse, and thrust obtained. For the
outline of the catalyst had already been decided, we decided
the catalyst bed from the inner diameter and length of catalyst.
The catalyst bed and tanks are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.

Fig. 3. Catalyst Bed and Nozzle

Fig. 6. A example of results of performance test (duty ratio 80%)

Table 1. The Result of Injection Test of Mono-Propellant

Duty ratio[%]
20
40
60
80
100

Fig. 4. Tanks and fees system

5.

Thrust [mN]
3460.01
4100.02
4100.02
4670.02
4910.02

Isp[s]
82.33.4
88.83.3
92.83.6
89.33.0
88.22.8

Injection Test

We have been conducting the injection tests and

measurements of performance of the propulsion system we
designed. Propellant tank were pressured at 5 atm with
pressured nitrogen gas to maintain the test condition at a
constant. We used the feed system of blow down system to
provide hydrogen peroxide to the thruster as propellant, and
measured pressure, temperature and mass flow rate at the
respective positions with sampling rate of 10 Hz. An
electromagnetic valve was operated by PWM control with the
cycle of 200 ms and the variable open duty ratio of 20~100 %
(every 20%) to control the mass flow rate of hydrogen
peroxide. The result of mass flow rate is shown in Fig.5. And
the example of results of performance test (duty ratio 80%) is
shown in Fig. 6. In estimation of thrust performances, we
supposed specific heat ratio, C* efficiency and nozzle
efficiency as 1.3, 0.9, and 0.8, respectively, as shown in Table
1.

6.

Consideration

In the result of injection tests of the mono-propellant

propulsion system, its thrust became large relatively as the
duty ratio grew. When the duty ratio is 100%, its thrust was
approximately 500 mN. And specific impulse always achieved
over 80 sec. These indicate that propulsion performance
becomes the best when the duty ratio becomes the highest in
the mono-propellant system. And when the duty ratio is 60%,
its mass flow rate is slightly low. This reason we thought is
the catalyst is slightly blocked. However it is solved by
continuing injection.

7.

Conclusions

It is one of the urgent issues to develop a suitable

propulsion system for microsatellite. We had started to
develop such a propulsion system since 2004, and completed
it based on the SAFETY FIRST POLICY and EFFECTIVE
COTS at once, by the beginning of 2008. We have been
improving the propulsion system since then, and we have been
using hydrogen peroxide with a concentration of 60wt% for
propellant as ever for safety and handleability. And we
introduced blow down system which had a feed system
equipped with tanks installing respective bladders. So we
succeeded to reduce mass and volume of propulsion system.
In the result of injection tests, we obtained thrust of
approximately 500 mN with the specific impulse of over 80
sec in the mono-propellant. Our propulsion system and the

Fig. 5. Mass flow rate

concerning technologies will lead to establish a way to form

an on-orbit constellation with plural microsatellites for some
earth observation mission in the future, and to produce in a
new trend in space utilization with microsatellites.

References
1)

2)

Acknowledgments
This research is granted by the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS) through the "Funding Program
for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and
Technology (FIRST Program)," initiated by the Council for
Science and Technology Policy (CSTP).

3)
4)
5)

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Propulsion System for Microsatellite Based on Non-Toxic
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Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 2010, AIAA2010-6805.
Suzuki, N. and Sahara, H.: Ignition Test of Bi-Propellant Propulsion
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AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit,
AIAA, 2011-6805.
Sutton, G. P. and Biblarz, O.: Rocket Propulsion Elements, 7th ed.
Willey-Interscience, New York, (2000), pp 253.
H2O2.com, http://h2o2.com/ [cited 15 July 2011]
Shutaro, N., Sahara, H., Naoki, M., and Yusuke K.: Development of
Mono-Propellant Propulsion System for A Japanese Microsatellite
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