A low temperature co-fired ceramic solid propellant microthruster for micropropulsion applications

Abstract

Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology is employed to develop a solid propellant microthruster. The LTCC solid propellant microthruster has many potential applications for micropropulsion in microspacecraft, such as high-accuracy station keeping, attitude control, and orbit adjust. The design and fabrication of the microthruster are presented. Performance of the embedded thin film igniter is studied for better understanding of the ignition process. Results from experiments on microcombustion, and thrust and impulse measurements both at sea level and in vacuum are reported.