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Development and Testing of a Novel Green Propellant Piston TankAnalytical Mechanics Associates (AMA), in cooperation with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC's) Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Branch, developed and tested a novel propellant tank design that employs an internal piston pressurized with an inert gas to expel propellant to thrusters. During the course of this activity, AMA designed, oversaw fabrication, and delivered to MSFC for testing, a piston propellant tank sized for 3U or larger CubeSats. MSFC conducted liquid expulsion testing using ethylene glycol as a referee fluid to map the tank's performance at different pressures and piston positions. Following the expulsion test campaign, the tank is planned to be integrated into a propulsion system test bed for hot fire tests with a 100mN monopropellant thruster to evaluate the tank's influence on thruster performance when operated in a flight like manner. Described in this paper is a comprehensive summary of how the tanks were designed, built, and tested. The fundamental knowledge gained through the fabrication and testing of these tanks gives evidence that the piston tank design may be scalable to meet the requirements and constraints of other small satellites.
Document ID
20170005373
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Diaz, C. E. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Cavender, D. P. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Higdon, K. (Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Abrams, J. (Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Duchek, M. E. (Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Mader, H. (Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
June 7, 2017
Publication Date
May 22, 2017
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
M17-5826
Meeting Information
Meeting: JANNAF Propulsion Meeting (JPM)
Location: Kansas City, MO
Country: United States
Start Date: May 22, 2017
End Date: May 25, 2017
Sponsors: Department of the Air Force, Department of the Navy, Department of the Army, NASA Headquarters
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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