This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Spacecraft propulsion traditionally relies on volatile fuels and separate, bulky systems for different types of maneuvering in space. NASA is working to change that.
Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed a series of environmental and physical tests on a new small satellite designed to make spaceflight safer and more efficient. The ASCENT (Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic) Propulsion Dual Mode mission is a flight demonstration of a spacecraft about the size of a large shoebox. The mission will test a single, integrated propulsion system that uses a common fuel tank to feed two types of engines.
Typically, spacecraft carry two separate propulsion systems to navigate: a high-thrust chemical system for rapid movements like entering orbit, and a low-thrust electric system for efficient, slow maneuvers like maintaining a position. This requires multiple fuel tanks and heavy plumbing, which take up valuable space and add weight. The spacecraft being developed uses a single nontoxic propellant called ASCENT.
By feeding both a high-thrust combustion engine and low-thrust electrospray thrusters from one central tank, the spacecraft saves mass and volume. For future missions, this means more room for scientific instruments and the ability to launch on smaller, less expensive rockets. Bringing this concept to flight requires collaboration across the country.
NASA Marshall manages the mission, while the spacecraft relies on electrospray thrusters developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a chemical propulsion module built by Plasma Processes and a spacecraft bus integrated by the Georgia Institute of Technology. "There are a lot of odds and ends, and a lot of small challenges and some big ones," said Nehemiah Williams, the demonstration's project manager at NASA Marshall. "But ensuring the functionality of the propulsion system across all these different teams is what makes the mission successful." Before a spacecraft can safely operate in the harsh environment of low Earth orbit, it must pass a battery of tests on the ground.
Over the past few months, the engineering team at Marshall has put the flight hardware through its paces inside the center's Small Spacecraft Servicing and Integration Lab. To verify the integrity of the unified propulsion system, engineers performed a pressurized helium leak test of the spacecraft inside a vacuum chamber. The test confirmed that its seals worked as intended.
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