Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Acta Astronautica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

Endurance testing of a pulsed plasma thruster

for nanosatellites
David Krejci a,n, Bernhard Seifert a, Carsten Scharlemann b
a
Fotec GmbH, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria
b
University of Applied Science, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria

a r t i c l e i n f o abstract

Article history: The mission complexity of Nanosatellites has increased tremendously in recent years, but
Received 10 July 2012 their mission range is limited due to the lack of an active orbit control or Δv capability.
Received in revised form Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT), featuring structural simplicity and very low power
14 June 2013
consumption are a prime candidate for such applications. However, the required
Accepted 15 June 2013
miniaturization of standard PPTs and the adaption to the low power consumption is not
Available online 22 June 2013
straightforward. Most investigated systems have failed to show the required lifetime. The
Keywords: present coaxial design has shown a lifetime of up to 1 million discharges at discharge
μPPT energies of 1.8 J in previous studies. The present paper focuses on performance char-
PPT
acterizations of this design. For this purpose direct thrust measurements with a mN thrust
Pulsed plasma thruster
balance were conducted. Thrust measurements in conjunction with mass bit determina-
Thrust measurement
CubeSat tion allowed a comprehensive assessment. Based on those measurements the present
Propulsion mPPT has a total impulses capability of approximately I≈1.7 Ns, an average mass bit of
0.37 mg s−1 and an average specific impulse of Isp≈904 s. All tests have shown very good
EM compatibility of the PPT with the electronics of the flight-like printed circuit board.
Consequently, a complete mPPT unit can provide a Δv change of 5.1 m/s or 2.6 m/s to a
standard 1-unit or 2-unit CubeSat respectively.
& 2013 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Currently there are various efforts in miniaturizing propul-

The recent success of CubeSats allows the definition of
advanced mission concepts, having CubeSats employed in
advanced scientific applications, including formation flying
[1,2]. However, the enabling technology for such missions,
namely autonomous propulsion and active attitude control
with high pointing accuracy remains elusive [3,4]. This
originates from the difficulties of miniaturizing existing
propulsion concepts either regarding structural–mechanical
limits in the case of chemical propulsion, or too stringent
power limitations for many types of electric propulsion [5].
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: david.krejci.fl@fotec.at (D. Krejci),
seifert@fotec.at, bseifert@gmx.at (B. Seifert),
carsten.scharlemann@fhwn.ac.at (C. Scharlemann).
sion technologies appropriate for the size of CubeSats,
including cold gas thrusters based on both gaseous (CanX-
2) [6,7] and solidified propellant (Delfi-n3Xt) [8] and
electrical propulsion systems, such as vacuum arc thrusters
(ION) [9] and Field Emission based ion thruster (FEEP) [10].
Another electrical type of thruster which lends itself
well to miniaturization is the structurally simple pulsed
plasma thruster (PPT), which is operated in pulsed mode,
adapting well to low power available. Thanks to their ability
to deliver small impulse bits and their high reliability,
miniaturized PPTs (mPPTs) are well suited to enable precise
formation flying. Furthermore, pointing accuracies currently
only obtainable by reaction wheels are expected, which
could therefore considerably reduce mass and power
requirements for high performance stabilization [11]. An
additional system benefit of PPTs is the quasi-neutrality

0094-5765/$ - see front matter & 2013 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2013.06.012
188 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193
Nomenclature
b Electrostatic comb plate width, m
d Plate distance of electrostatic comb, m
I Impulse, kg m s−1
I Bit Impulse bit, mN s
l Electrostatic comb overlapping length, m
lE Distance of electrostatic comb from balance
spring bearings, m
n Number of plates in electrostatic comb
r Distance of thruster to balance bearings, m
T Thrust, N
of the expelled plasma, making the need for charge
neutralization obsolete.
PPTs were first flown in space on the Soviet Zond-2
mission [12]. Ever since then, PPTs have been employed in
various space missions [13], with utilization reaching from
orbit insertion and drag make-up (TIP/NOVA with a total of
28 thruster) to east-west station keeping (LES-6) [14] to
active attitude control (SMS and LES-8/9) [15,16]. Typical
discharge energy levels of flight experienced PPTs range
from a few joules (LES-6, SMS) to one hundred joules (EO-1,
MightySat-II) [17–19].
Presently, several research teams focus on the investiga-
tion of mPPTs [20,21], but none has shown the reliability and
lifetime necessary for such application. The investigation
presented in the following has focused on mPPT performance
evaluation during long term employment, similar to future
employments on CubeSats. Fig. 1 shows the plasma plume of
the coaxial mPPT design investigated in this work. With the
available resources no further characterization of the plume,
especially the divergence angle, could be performed.
2. Operation principle
The PPT is an electro-dynamic thruster, accelerating
ionized propellant by interaction of the electric current in
the plasma and the self-induced electromagnetic fields
[22]. In an annular coaxial design, shown in Fig. 2, the
Fig. 1. Plasma plume of coaxial mPPT.
U Voltage at electrostatic calibration comb, V
Greek symbols:
Δv Velocity increment, m s-1
ε0 Permittivity of free space, As V−1 m−1
κ Coefficient of thrust balance torsion spring,
N m rad−1
θ Thrust balance beam angular deviation, rad
μ0 Permeability of free space, H m−1
acceleration chamber consists of two concentric, tubular
shaped electrodes made of copper with the propellant
TEFLONs in between. The external diameter of the PPT is
roughly 9 mm and its length is 35 mm. The diameters of
the concentric electrodes are 6.0 mm and 4.8 mm respec-
tively. With the total propellant area of 10.2 mm² and the
total weight of only 15 g, even 2-unit CubeSats can easily
be equipped with multiple PPTs in order to allow sophis-
ticated attitude control and formation flight maneuvers.
The PPT head was designed and manufactured at FOTEC
and is optimized for low mass and volume, low discharge
energy and good electro-magnetic compatibility. A high
voltage capacitor, used to store the discharge energy for
one pulse, is connected to the electrodes. While the
plasma acceleration process is a highly complex physical
matter [23–27], simple models are available to guide the
preliminary thruster design [28–35]. The size of the
complete thruster module including four PPT heads, high
voltage capacitors shared between the individual mPPTs
heads, igniters and conditioning electronics is 90
90

30 mm3. Total weight of the unit is about 300 g with the
capacitors being the major driver of the weight. The usage
of custom-made peak current optimized capacitors, sig-
nificant weight reduction is expected for future revisions.
The igniter is introduced annularly into the acceleration
chamber through the TEFLONs propellant. The igniter
triggers the main discharge, featuring peak current values
Current I
Lorentz force
Capacitor F=jxB
C
Current I
Propellant Plasma Magnetic
PTFE Sheet Field B
CurrentI
Fig. 2. Simplified schematic of PPTs.
 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193 189

3
AR = 1
2 AR = 1.67
AR = 2.5
AR = 3.33
1

Current [kA]
0

-1

-2

-3
0 5 10 15 20
Time [µs]
Fig. 3. Typical current pulse during discharge.

up to 3 kA, which then ablates, dissociates, ionizes and

accelerates the propellant.
In Fig. 3 the typical current pulse during discharge is
shown for standard-shape mPPT with different width-to-
gap aspect ratios. Due to the encapsulated mPPT design and
its fixed assembly on the PCB, the discharge characteristics
could not be determined in the scope of this work, but
because of similar geometric dimensions and the same
electrical setup, similar results can be expected.

3. Thrust balance

3.1. A. Balance description

In order to determine the generated thrust of the mPPT, a

mN torsion balance has been set up. The operational balance
set up in the vacuum chamber is shown in Fig. 4. The system
is comprised of a horizontal Aluminum beam with a total
length of 70 cm which is suspended by two stainless steel
spring bearings manufactured by C-Flex with a spring rate of
0.2 Nm/rad per bearing (not visible). In the front of the
picture one of the two 12
12 cm2 tables can be recognized
which are directly mounted on the beam—one for the
thruster module and the other one for the corresponding
counterweight. The displacement of the beam is measured
using a high-precision optical distance transducer mini DMS
manufactured by Philtec. The oscillation frequency of the
system is measured and knowing the torques of inertia of the
arm and the tables, the exact spring rate can be computed
which is required to determine the generated thrust of the
mPPT. To account for the low damping of the beam which in
vacuum is only caused by friction of the bearings, a passive
magnetic eddy current brake has been implemented to lower
the measurement noise and oscillations (in the foreground
just below the table the disc-shaped magnet can be
recognized).
The time-averaged thrust transferred to the torsion
balance by the mPPT, with thrust axis oriented perpendi-
cular to the balance beam at distant r ¼29 cm from the
pivot, can be expressed as a function of angular deviation θ
θκ
T¼ : ð1Þ
r balance with respect to high sensitive thrust measurement.
Fig. 4. Torsion balance put on rails in the vacuum chamber.
Ref. [36] gives a comprehensive derivation of this
relation from the general second-order differential equa-
tion for the torsion balances and damping systems and
discusses the justification of averaging the measured
parameters for the given configuration.
Since Eq. (1) is dependent on the spring rate κ, which
might be subjected to thermal drift, the balance was
additionally equipped with an electrostatic comb struc-
ture, allowing alternative thrust measurements indepen-
dent of material parameters. Therefore, the generated
thrust by the mPPT is compensated by applying an anti-
parallel force of the same strength using the comb struc-
ture. According to Ref. [36], the thrust from the mPPT can
be expressed as function of the applied comb structure
voltage difference U
1 b lE 2
T¼ ε0 n U ð2Þ
2 d l
The reflective displacement transducer and the static
comb structure have been identified as critical parts of the
190 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193
Therefore, proper performance of these crucial components
has been validated. The accurate operation of the reflective
displacement transducer was verified with the aid of a Key-
ence LC-2400W laser displacement meter. No malfunction or
unexpected deviations have been detected. In addition, mag-
netic deflection has been used to validate the electrostatic
comb structure since only small direct currents are used and
no high voltage is needed which may be a potential source of
measurement errors due to unmeant static charging.
3.2. B. Balance accuracy
The optical displacement sensor uncertainty was deter-
mined using a mirror at mechanically fixed distance to the
sensor face. The resulting measurement noise and drift of the
reflective displacement sensor and the measurement electro-
nics are listed in Table 1. The noise and drift of the overall,
fully equipped, thrust balance was determined at vacuum
operation conditions for a chamber pressure below 5

10−7 mbar after 48 h in vacuum conditions in order to achieve
thermal equilibrium and to rule out outgassing effects.
The balance response time was determined by applying
a step force of 100 mN to the fully equipped thrust balance
using the electrostatic comb. The response time, defined as
the time elapsed from 10% to 90% of the final deflection
was found to be 1.6 s. The natural frequency of the balance
is therefore 0.6 Hz but it strongly depends on the weights
put on the tables.
4. Test facility and balance operation
For thrust measurements, the mPPTs were pulsed at
three different frequencies of 1/3 Hz, 1/6 Hz and 1/9 Hz
Table 1
Balance accuracy.
Noise [mNrms]
Displacement sensor 0.07
Balance total 0.37
3
Thrust [µN]
-1
0 50
Fig. 5. Typical thrust measurement sequence of a mPPT.
(or alternatively 1 Hz, 1/2 Hz and 1/4 Hz), resembling the
operation conditions for limited power budgets when
employed in CubeSats. An operation time of 60 s was
found to be long enough to compute a reliable value of
the average thrust. To account for the thermal drift of the
thrust balance which results in a drift rate as given in
Table 1, that distorts the measurement results when used
over a long-term interval, the deflection is measured
before and after the mPPT operation for 60 s when kept
idle. Fig. 5 shows a section of a thrust measurement at the
discharge energy of 1.82 J where the mPPT is kept idle for
60 s and then pulsed at 1/3 Hz for 120 s. The generated
mean thrust is indicated based on an averaging interval of
3 s. The recorded thrust signal shows constant thrust
levels throughout the entire firing period, without any
noticeable influences caused by initial thermal disequili-
brium and thus justifies the choice of measurement inter-
vals of 60 s. Due to the inertia of the thrust balance and the
aforementioned natural frequency of 0.6 Hz, the arm does
not return to its initial position between the pulses.
The corrected thrust is then given by
T before þ T after
T corr ¼ T− : ð3Þ
2
with the subscripts “before” and “after” referring to the
measurements periods in which the thruster is kept idle.
5. Thrust measurement of a miniaturized coaxial thruster
The coaxial type ablative mPPT design offers favorable
mechanical properties, since the outer electrode fully
confines the propellant and the plasma and thus acts as
a shielding barrier protecting the surrounding structure,
making additional shielding, which can cause leakage
current when covered with carbon, obsolete. For energy
storage, two capacitors of 1 mF each were charged to
1350 V. A mockup of the module containing the PPU and
Drift [nN s−1] four thrusters is shown in Fig. 6, with potential application
shown on the right hand side. Each of the mPPTs on
1.3
2.0 the module is equipped with a dedicated igniter circuit,
allowing for individual control of each thruster.
100 150
Time [s]
 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193 191

Fig. 6. mPPT EBB module for CubeSats with four independently controllable thrusters and application example (CubeSat structure by Pumpkin, Inc.).

25 20
Force, 0.5Hz
Force, 0.25Hz
20 Force, 1.0Hz 15

Impulse Bit [µNs]

Average Impulse Bit
Force [µN]

15
10
10

5
5

0 0
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5
Energy [J]
Fig. 7. Averaged impulse bit for coaxial annular electrode configuration.

Fig. 7 shows the direct thrust measurements for three
different firing frequencies, each repeated three times, and
the resulting mean impulse bit measured as a function of
the discharge energy. Three different discharge energies
were tested by varying the capacitor charging voltage. As
can be seen, in this energy and discharge frequency range,
the impulse bit determination is independent from dis-
charge frequency, only showing minor effects of increased
thermal load for increased firing frequencies. The bars
indicate the deviation between the single measurements
and do not correspond to the total thrust measurement
error. Further measurements will be necessary in order to
determine the temperature increase of the PPT head for
various ignition frequencies.
5.1. A. Lifetime thrust measurement
Lifetime tests have been performed using a coaxial type
mPPT incorporated into the PPU module. The entire thrus-
ter module was mounted on the balance and fired at
1/3 Hz continuously to simulate CubeSat operational con-
ditions with an average power consumption of less than
1 W.
Thrust measurements using the test procedure
described before were conducted at intervals of 2 h, or
approximately 2400 ignitions. A long duration test includ-
ing thrust measurement was conducted for a total of
4.2
105 discharges. The resulting impulse bit measured
as function of the number of ignitions is shown in Fig. 8.
To avoid the increasing complexity of a moving pro-
pellant in the highly miniaturized design employed, the
propellant was not repositioned as in the case of standard
PPT designs, in which the propellant front face position is
kept constant. Therefore, ablation of the propellant leads
to recession of the propellant face relative to the thruster
electrodes, prolonging the acceleration chamber. The
degradation of thrust as already been observed in previous
designs [42] is traced back to this recession of propellant.
The accumulated impulse delivered by the thruster was
determined to I ¼ 1:7 N s for 4.2
105 discharges. Assum-
ing a standard 1-unit CubeSat with a maximum mass of
1.33 kg, a propulsion unit containing four thruster heads
would be able to deliver a Δv change of Δv≈5:1 m=s,
enabling drag make-up maneuvers, formation flight and
constellation maintenance [37–41]. In a realistic scenario
concerning volume and power budgets available, the
thruster module will most likely be employed in a 2- or
3-unit CubeSat architecture, with accordingly reduced
velocity changes delivered to the satellite of Δv≈2:6 m=s
or Δv≈1:7 m=s respectively, again assuming a mass of
1.33 kg per CubeSat unit. However, long duration tests
performed without thrust measurements showed success-
ful thruster operation up to 106 discharges, therefore
significantly increasing the total impulse per thruster and
the corresponding Δv change.
192 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193
15
Impulse bit [µNs]
10
5 These values are located near the lower end of expected
0
0 100 200 300
Number of ignitions [-]
Fig. 8. Long duration thrust measurement of mPPT.
1 tion requirements especially pose difficulties regarding the
0.9
mass bit [µg/discharge]
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Number of ignitions [-]
Fig. 9. Long-term mass bit measurement of mPPT.
Disassembly of the TEFLONs propellant bar for weight
measurements and mass bit determination respectively
was not possible due to the fashion the mPPT is assembled
within the propulsion module. Therefore, mass bit deter-
mination was performed in a separate long duration test
for an identical mPPT without direct attachment of the
mPPT to the PPU module, allowing easy disassembling and
weight determination of the propellant. This method
improved the accuracy of the measurement compared to
past results [43]. In this configuration, mass bit determina-
tion was performed by gravimetric weight determination
of the propellant before and after the test interval. All
weight measurements have been conducted after storage
of the propellant under ambient conditions for 24 h to
account for atmospheric humidity intake. The resulting
mass bit values (shown in Fig. 9) are therefore mean values
averaged over the number of discharges of the determina-
tion interval. As in the case of the impulse bit, the recess of
the propellant surface leads to a degradation of the mass
bit. Although the different ways of connecting the mPPT to
the PPU in the case of thrust and mass bit measurements
introduce an unknown error in the electrical circuit para-
meters of the system, the combination of the data pre-
sented in Figs. 8 and 9 allows an estimation of the average
specific impulse achieved for the mPPT configuration
employed. The mean specific impulse averaged over
4.2
105 discharges becomes Isp ¼904 7212 s.
The specific impulse measured is found in the lower
region of range of specific impulse expected for this type of
thruster which is anticipated considering the given min-
iaturization and low energy operation [44]. This translates
directly, using a time-averaged mass bit given in Fig. 9 and
basic energy relations, into an initial efficiency of  3.9%
which decays to 1.1% after 1,00,000 ignitions and reaches
lower values of 0.7% after succeeding 3,00,000 ignitions.
efficiency range for this type of thruster.
400 ·103 6. Conclusion
The pulsed plasma thruster is a candidate propulsion
technology for miniaturization to meet the stringent
requirements posed by nanosatellites. These miniaturiza-
reliability and lifetime of such miniaturized thrusters. The
current paper presents a highly miniaturized pulsed
plasma thruster in recessive ablative coaxial configuration
for low power operation. The thruster was characterized
and its performance in long duration tests was manufac-
tured in-house and investigated. The thruster was incor-
porated in a fully operational propulsion unit containing
the PPU and up to four thrusters, and thrust was measured
throughout a period of 4:2
105 ignitions. Direct thrust
measurement of the thruster was performed using a
dedicated thrust balance, able to resolve mN forces. Total
impulses delivered throughout the lifetime test were
700 ·103
determined to be foI≈1:7 N sr one thruster. For the minia-
turized thruster module presented, which comprises four
thrusters, this amounts to a Δv change, based on a 1-unit
CubeSat, of Δv≈5:1 m=s, and correspondingly decreased
values of Δv≈2:6 m=s and Δv≈1:7 m=s for 2-unit and 3-unit
CubeSats respectively, based on a satellite mass of 1.33 kg
per CubeSat unit. Minimum discrete impulse bits, neces-
sary for fine attitude control, were measured to
I bit ≈10 mN s, decreasing to I bit ≈3:5 mN s for increased
operational lifetime.
Long duration mass bit measurement was performed
over the test duration of 6:9
105 ignitions. This test
showed degradation in mass bit with increasing total
number of discharges corresponding to impulse bit degra-
dation. The combined data allowed for an estimate of the
achieved specific impulse over the entire test period of
Isp ¼904 7212 s for the low power, miniaturized thruster
configuration.
The thruster module described and used for testing in
this paper allows the individual control of each of the four
thrusters, using four separate ignition circuits, allowing for
individual change on discharge frequency and thus thrust
produced. The ability to individually address each thruster
allows for flexible control in case of thrust deviation of a
single thruster head by modifying the discharge frequency
of such a thruster, maintaining a uniform thrust, if neces-
sary. The discharge frequencies achieved by the four
thrusters within the module will be limited by the power
budget delivered by the CubeSat only.
The mPPT presented and investigated in this work is
therefore found capable of providing reliable autonomous
 D. Krejci et al. / Acta Astronautica 91 (2013) 187–193
propulsion for Nanosatellites, potentially increasing the
satellites mission performance.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Austrian Research
Promotion Agency (FFG) within the framework of Austrian
Space Applications Program (ASAP).
References
[1] P.P. Sundaramoorthy, E. Gill, C.J.M. Verhoeven, Systematic identifica-
tion of applications for a cluster of femto-satellites, in: Proceedings
of the 61st International Astronautical Congress, IAC-10.B4.4.8,
Prague, CZ, 2010.
[2] M. Balan, M. Piso, M. Trusculescu, C. Dragasanu, A., Pandele, CubeSat
formation flying: a suitable platform for space situational awareness
applications, in: Proceedings of the 61st International Astronautical
Congress, CZ, IAC-10.B4.4.1, Prague, CZ, 2010.
[3] J. Bouwmeester, J. Guo, Survey of worldwide pico- and nanosatellite
missions, distributions and subsystem technology, Acta Astronaut.
67 (7–8) (2010) 854–862.
[4] D. Selva, D. Krejci, A survey and assessment of the capabilities of
CubeSats for Earth observation, Acta Astronaut. 74 (2012) 50–68.
[5] K. Woellert, P. Ehrenfreund, A.J. Ricco, H. Hertzfeld, CubeSats: cost-
effective science and technology platforms for emerging and devel-
oping nations, Adv. Space Res. 47 (4) (2011) 663–684.
[6] D. Rankin, D.D. Kekez, R.E. Zee, F.M. Pranajaya, D.G. Foisy,
A.M. Beattie, The CanX-2 nanosatellite: Expanding the science
abilities if nanosatellites, Acta Astronaut. 57 (2–8) (2005) 167–174.
[7] K. Sarde, S. Eagleson, E. Caillibot, C. Grant, D. Kekez, F. Pranajaya,
R.E. Zee, Canadian advanced nanospace experiment 2: scientific and
technological innovation on a three-kilogram satellite, Acta Astro-
naut. 59 (1–5) (2006) 236–245.
[8] S. de Jong, E. Maddox, G.J. Vollmuller, C.A.H. Schurbiers, R.A.C.M.M.
van Swaaij, W.J. Ubbels, R.J. Hamann, The Delfi-n3Xt nanosatellite:
space weather research and qualification of microtechnology, in:
Proceedings of the 59th International Astronautical Congress, Glas-
gow, UK, 2008.
[9] J. Schein, A. Gerhan, F. Rysanek, M. Krishnan, Vacuum arc thruster
for CubeSat propulsion, in: Proceedings of the 28th International
Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-0276, Toulouse, Fr, 2003.
[10] C. Scharlemann, GRASP-Analysis of green propellant candidates, in:
Proceedings of the 62nd International Astronautical Congress, IAC-
11-C4.1.6, Cape Town, South Africa, 2011.
[11] M. Martinez-Sanchez, J.E. Pollard, Spacecraft electric propulsion—an
overview, AIAA J. Propul. Power 14 (5) (1998) 688–699.
[12] R.L. Burton, P.J. Turchi, Pulsed plasma thruster, AIAA J. Propul. Power
14 (5) (1998) 716–734.
[13] A. Valdes, K. Khorasani, A pulsed plasma thruster fault detection and
isolation strategy for formation flying satellites, Appl. Soft Comput.
10 (3) (2010) 746–758.
[14] R. Vondra, K. Thomassen, A. Solbes, A. Pulsed, Electric thruster for
satellite control, Proc. IEEE 59 (2) (1971) 271–277.
[15] R.J. Vondra, K.I. Thomassen, Flight qualified pulsed electric thruster
for satellite, J. Spacecr. Rockets 11 (9) (1974) 613–617.
[16] R.J. Cassady, N.J. Meckel, W.A. Hoskins, R.M. Myers, S.R. Oleson,
M. McGuire, Pulsed plasma thruster systems for spacecraft attitude
control, in: Proceedings of the 10th AIAA/USU Conference on Small
Satellites, 1996.
[17] S.W. Benson, L. Arrington, W.A. Hoskins, N.J. Meckel, Development of
a PPT for the EO-1 spacecraft, in: Proceedings of the 35th AIAA/
ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA-99-2276, Los
Angeles, California, 1999.
[18] A. Nawaz, M. Auweter-Kurtz, G. Herdrich, H.L. Kurtz, Investigation
and optimization of an instationary MPD thruster at IRC, in:
Proceedings of the 29th International Electric Propulsion Confer-
ence, IEPC-2005-208, Princeton, NJ, 2005.
[19] N.A. Gatsonis, R. Eckman, X. Yin, E.J. Pencil, R.M. Myers, Experi-
mental investigations and numerical modeling of pulsed plasma
thruster plumes, J. Spacecr. Rockets 38 (3) (2001) 454–464.
[20] M. Coletti, F. Guarducci, S.B. Gabriel, A micro PPT for CubeSat
application: design and preliminary experimental results, Acta
Astronaut. 69 (2011) 200–208.
193
[21] J. Aoyagi, M. Mukai, Y. Kamishima, T. Sasaki, K. Shintani,
H. Takegahara, T. Wakizono, M. Sugiki, Total impulse improvement
of coaxial pulsed plasma thruster for small satellite, Vacuum 83 (1)
(2009) 72–76.
[22] E. Stuhlinger, Ion Propulsion for Space Flight, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, New York, 13–19.
[23] E. Choueiri, T. Markusic, J. Berkery, J., Cooley, Physics and Dynamics
of Current Sheets in Pulsed Plasma Thrusters, AFOSR-F49620-01-1-
0052, October 2001.
[24] J.W. Berkery, E.Y. Choueiri, Canted current sheet mass leakage and
its impact on pulsed plasma thruster performance, in: Proceedings
of the 40th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &
Exhibit, AIAA-2004-3463, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 2004.
[25] P. Shaw, V. Lappas, Modeling of a Pulsed Plasma Thruster, Simple
Design, Complex Matter, Space Propulsion 2010, San Sebastian,
Spain, 26.4.2010.
[26] M. Keidar, I. Boyd, F. Gulczinski, E. Antonsen, G. Spanjers, Analysis of
Teflon surface charring and near field plume of a Micro- Pulsed
Plasma Thruster, in: Proceedings of the 27th International Electric
Propulsion Conference, IEPC-01-155, Pasadena, CA, October 2001.
[27] M. Keidar, I.D. Boyd, I.I. Beilis, On the model of Teflon ablation in an
ablation-controlled discharge, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34 (2001)
1675–1677.
[28] R.G. Jahn, Physics of Electric Propulsion, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New
York, 1968 (Chapter 9).
[29] W.J. Guman, Pulsed Plasma Technology in Microthrusters, Fairchild
Hiller Corp., AFAPL-TR-68-132, Farmingdale, NY, November 1968.
[30] J.K. Ziemer, E.Y. Choueiri, Scaling laws for electromagnetic pulsed
plasma thrusters, Plasma Sour. Sci. Technol. 10 (3) (2001) 395–405.
[31] P.V. Shaw, V.J. Lappas, Mathematical modeling of high efficiency
pulsed plasma thrusters for microsatellites, in: Proceedings of the
57nd International Astronautical Congress, IAC-06-C4.P.4, Valencia,
Spain, 2006.
[32] D. Krejci, C. Scharlemann, Analytic model for the assessment of the
electrode configuration of a mPPT, in: Proceedings of the 45th AIAA/
ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, AIAA 2009-
5279, Denver, Colorado, August 2009.
[33] D.D. Laperriere, N.A. Gatsonis, M.A. Demetriou, Elechtromechanical
modeling of applied field micro pulsed plasma thrusters, in:
Proceedings of the 41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion
Conference & Exhibit, AIAA 2005-4077, Tucson, Arizona, July 2005.
[34] C.M. Brito, A.A. Elaskar, H.H. Brito, N.R. Paoletti, Zero-dimensional
model for preliminary design of ablative pulsed plasma teflon
thrusters, J. Propul. Power 20 (6) (2004) 970–977.
[35] A. Nawaz, R. Albertoni, M. Auweter-Kurtz, Thrust efficiency optimi-
zation of the pulsed plasma thruster SIMP-LEX, Acta Astronaut. 67
(3–4) (2010) 440–448.
[36] D. Krejci, B. Seifert, Miniaturized pulsed plasma thrusters for
CubeSats: modelling and direct thrust measurements, in: Proceed-
ings of the 61st International Astronautical Congress, IAC-10.E2.1.5,
Prague, CZ, September 2010.
[37] E.M.C. Kong, D.W. Miller, Optimal spacecraft reorientation for earth
orbiting clusters: applications to Techsat 21, Acta Astronaut. 53 (11)
(2003) 863–877.
[38] H.J. Königsmann, J.T. Collins, S. Dawson, J.R. Wertz, Autonomous
orbit maintenance system, Acta Astronaut. 39 (9–12) (1996) 977985.
[39] S. Corna, J.C. Bastante, F. Jubineau, Design and operations of a multi-
satellite system for the cross-scale mission concept, Acta Astronaut.
63 (1–4) (2008) 258–279.
[40] J.A. Kéchichian, Analysis and implementation of in-plane station-
keeping of continuously perturbed Walker constellations, Acta
Astronaut. 65 (11–12) (2009) 1560–1667.
[41] S. D’Amico, O. Montenbruck, Proximity operations of formation-
flying spacecraft using an eccentricity/inclination vector separation,
J. Guidance Control Dyn. 29 (3) (2006) 554–563.
[42] D. Krejci, B. Seifert, C. Scharlemann, Thrust measurement of a micro
pulsed plasma thruster for Cubestats, in: Proceedings of the 1st IAA
Conference on University Satellite Missions and CubeSat Workshop,
Rome, January 2011.
[43] C. Scharlemann, M. Tajmar, I..Vasiljevich, N. Buldrini, D. Krejci,
B. Seifert, Propulsion for nanosatellites, in: Proceedings of the
32nd International Electric Propulsion Conference, Wiesbaden, 2011.
[44] J.A. Pobst, G.G. Spanjers, I.J. Wysong, J.B. Malak, Basic Research in
Electric Propulsion Part I: Pulsed Plasma Thruster Propellant Effi-
ciency and Contamination. Part II: Arcjet Remote Plume Measure-
ment and Hydrogen Density, Technical Report, AD-A408488; AFRL/
PRS-TR-97-3027.