60%過酸化水素水を用いた超小型衛星搭載用一液式 推進系の固体触媒劣化の初期検討

抄録

This paper reports fundamental study on performance degradation, caused by solid catalyst, of 60wt% hydrogen peroxide thruster for small satellites. The chemical in-space propulsion system, with 60wt% hydrogen peroxide, has been proposed and developed based on three policies, safety first, border free, and effective COTS. Platinum based metal honeycomb solid catalyst has been installed to BBM of thruster, and the solid catalyst is one of cause to limit lifetime of the thruster. In this study, to understand degradation, comparison between observation results of solid catalyst surface by FE-SEM/EDS and thruster performance has been conducted. Small cracks have been observed on upstream surface. The evident growth of cracks has not been found; however, instability of response time has been confirmed.