Document Type

Conference Paper

Journal/Book Title/Conference

IEST Space Simulation Conference 2024

Location

Annapolis, MD

Publication Date

10-22-2024

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Abstract

As part of the integration and testing for Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), it was necessary to characterize the propellent leak rate of the fully assembled propulsion subsystem for each satellite to ensure compliance with performance requirements. SunRISE utilized a cold gas system for its propulsion subsystem, using R-236fa propellant inside a tank made from a monolithic 3D printed SLA material. It was not possible to accurately characterize the propellent leak rate via weight by measuring the mass loss from the tank. This is due to the SLA material having both a high absorbance rate of water in normal atmospheric conditions and a high outgassing rate of water when under vacuum. However, by measuring the rate of change in the partial pressure of the R-236fa via a Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) in a rate-of-rise test under vacuum and taking the time derivative of the ideal gas law, π‘‘π‘›π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘/𝑑𝑑 = 𝑑/𝑑𝑑 (π‘ƒπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘ βˆ™ 𝑉 / 𝑅𝑇) = π‘‘π‘ƒπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘/𝑑𝑑 βˆ™ 𝑉 / 𝑅𝑇, the leak rate could be calculated. This method proved to be efficient and effective in verifying that the fully assembled propulsion subsystem for each satellite met the leak rate requirement.

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