1 N Mono-Propellant Thruster

Reliable control of small and midsize spacecraft

All the space you need

Heritage

EADS Space Transportation is engaged in the The 1 N thruster is a small rocket engine for attitude, 1 N Thrusters in Space
monopro-pellant hydrazine propusion technology trajectory and orbit control of small satellites and More than 500 units of the thruster´s first and
since 1966. It can look back on longlasting deep space probes. second generation operate successfully in space
experience in development and production of to date. Hundreds of units will follow.
hydrazine thrusters and propulsion systems for The thruster was derived from a space proven 0,5 N
numerous commercial, scientific and military thruster, of which some 165 units were flown on Spacecraft Flight Units Launch
spacecraft and for attitude control of Europes large OTS-2, ECS, Marecs, Telecom-1, Skynet 4 and
Globalstar 365 1997 - 2000
launcher Ariane 5. NATO-IV. Jason 1 4 2001
Rocsat-2 / Formosat-2 4 2004
Cosmo-SkyMed 1 6 2005
The family of monopropellant hydrazine thrusters The thruster has experienced multiple improve-
TerraSAR-X 8 2005
ranges from 0,5 N to 400 N, most of them available ments since the above mentioned applications, Cosmo-SkyMed 2 6 2006
with either straight or canted expansion nozzle. especially in view of minimum possible production Radarsat-2 6 2006
Galileo GSTB-V2 8 2006
cost. Today it may be called a low cost thruster. Cosmo-SkyMed 3 6 2007
Cosmo-SkyMed 4 6 2007
Herschel Planck 4 2007
The thrusters are equipped with propellant valves
Theos 4 2007
from either MOOG, USA, or from A.E.R., France Pleiades H1 8 2008
depending on customer´s request. The thruster is an Pleiades H2 8 2009
Galileo 240 2008 - 2011
All European Product when euipped with the
A.E.R.-valve.
Design Description Characteristics

The 1 N thruster uses the storable propellant The thruster valves are dual seat / dual coil solenoid Characteristics Values

hydrazine N2O4. The propellant is decomposed types. The solenoids are mechanically and electri-
Thrust Nominal 1N
when passing the catalyst. It is designed for both, cally decoupled from each other. Thrust Range 0.320 ... 1.1 N
long term steady state and pulse mode operation. Specific Impulse, Nominal 220 s
Pulse, Range 200 ... 223 s
It operates in a wide pressure range and is thus an The thruster performance is identical for all valves. Mass Flow, Nominal 0.44 g/s
ideal thruster for blow down propulsion systems. Mass Flow, Range 0.142 ... 0.447 g/s
Inlet Pressure Range 5.5 ... 22 bar
Minimum Impulse Bit 0.01 ... 0.043 N
Combustion chamber and nozzle are made of Nozzle Expansion Ratio (by area) 80
Haynes 25. The thruster structure is designed also to Mass, Thruster with valve 290 g

serve as a heat barrier for protecting valve and S/C

Propellant
structure against unallowed temperatures. The
Supplied Components
thruster is equipped with an internally redundant
Catalyst
catalyst bed heater and thermal insulation to Catalyst Bed Heater
guarantee for optimum start up. In addition, the
thruster is qualified for multiple cold starts.
Valve, 16 V DC
Valve, 28 V DC
Valve, 28 V DC
Hydrazine (N2H4), High-Purity Grade
Solvay, Belgium; KC 12 GA
Cartridge Heater with redundant heating elements,
Power 6.4 W
Tayco Engineering, Cypress, U.S.A.
Dual Seat Dual Solenoid Valve, Power 6.5 W
MOOG, East Aurora, U.S.A.
Dual Seat Dual Solenoid Valve, Power 9.5 W
MOOG, East Aurora, U.S.A.
Dual Seat Dual Solenoid Valve, Power 9.5 W
A.E.R., France

Qualification
Total Impulse 112,000 kNs
Cycle Life 59,000 cycles
Propellant Throughput 52 kg
Single Burn Life 12 h
Accumulated Burn Life 50
No of Cold Starts bellow 100 C 10
Shock Loads, all axes 500 g for 0.5 ms
Launch Vibration Loads Structure Interface

The thruster is qualified to withstand sinus and Thruster Dimensions

random vibration at the shown levels. These loads
represent both, launcher loads and amplification by
the spacecraft. The loads are applied at the thruster
mounting flange.

Structure Cut out

Launch Vibration Loads
The thruster is qualified to withstand sinus and
random vibration at the shown levels. These loads
represent both, launcher loads and amplification by
the spacecraft. The loads are applied at the thruster
mounting flange.
Pulse Operation
Pulse Mode Performance
Duty Cycle Qualification
The thruster qualification program includes extensi-
ve pulse mode testing at numerous combinations
of valve ON- and valve OFF-times, ranging from
milliseconds to seconds, at various propellant inlet
pressures.
Pulse Mode Performance
Specific Impulse
Thruster efficiency for pulse mode firing is naturally
lower than that of steady state operation, especially
the shorter the pulses. However, this thruster
achieves already 80% to 90% of its steady state
efficiency at 300 ms pulses.
Pulse Mode Performance
Impulse Bit
In analogy to the steady state thrust, the impulse bits
are a nearly linear function of the feed pressure.
Even at minimum feed pressure and pulse duration
the I-Bit deviation from thruster to thruster is only ±
12 %.
Steady State Operation
Steady State Performance
Thrust
The thruster can be operated in blow down mode
over the entire inlet pressure range ( ratio of 4:1).
The decomposition behaviour is insensitive to
pressure variations, the thrust is a nearly linear
function of the feed pressure.
Steady State Performance
Specific Impulse
The Specific Impulse is a measure for the thruster
efficiency. The higher the Isp, the better the
thruster. The efficiency of this thruster is worlwide
competitive.
Steady State Performance
400 Thrusters
Acceptance hot firing data of 400 thrusters
demonstrate the performance reproducibility and
thus the constantly high quality of the thruster
production.
Printed in Germany. © 2005 EADS Space Transportation. Photos and Images: EADS Space Transportation, EADS Astrium, DLR, ESA.

EADS Space Transportation

Propulsion & Equipment
D 81663 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49-89-607 22148
Fax: +49-89-607 85148
Henning.vonBassewitz@space.eads.net

www.space-propulsion.com
www.space.eads.net