Session
Technical Poster Session IV
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
REGULUS is an electric propulsion (EP) system for CubeSats at TRL8 and now waiting for the IoD flight in late 2020. REGULUS system is provided for integration with all electronics, fluidic line, iodine tank and structures for total mass below 3 kg. Thanks in particular to the Magnetically Enhanced RF Plasma Thruster (MEPT) technology and the use of iodine propellant, the system can provide 3000Ns of total impulse in a 93.8 x 95.0 x 150.0 mm volume performance, fitting in a 1.5U Cubesat. REGULUS includes the whole propulsion package for integration in CubeSats and MicroSats as well as small CubeSat carriers. The system is composed by the thruster, the electronics (PPUs and PCU) the fluidic line and the tank. The main features of REGULUS are the presence of a simple architecture, a thruster with no neutralizer and grids, no high DC-voltage PPU and the use of solid iodine as propellant, that can be substituted with Xenon fluidic line and tank when required. Its first mission will be onboard of Unisat-7 by GAUSS. The flight will take place in late 2020 in a Soyuz flight. During the mission, REGULUS will allow Unisat-7 to perform an orbit descending maneuver, drag compensation in VLEO and decommissioning.
REGULUS Iodine Electric Propulsion System Integration in CubeSats’ Platforms and Testing
Utah State University, Logan, UT
REGULUS is an electric propulsion (EP) system for CubeSats at TRL8 and now waiting for the IoD flight in late 2020. REGULUS system is provided for integration with all electronics, fluidic line, iodine tank and structures for total mass below 3 kg. Thanks in particular to the Magnetically Enhanced RF Plasma Thruster (MEPT) technology and the use of iodine propellant, the system can provide 3000Ns of total impulse in a 93.8 x 95.0 x 150.0 mm volume performance, fitting in a 1.5U Cubesat. REGULUS includes the whole propulsion package for integration in CubeSats and MicroSats as well as small CubeSat carriers. The system is composed by the thruster, the electronics (PPUs and PCU) the fluidic line and the tank. The main features of REGULUS are the presence of a simple architecture, a thruster with no neutralizer and grids, no high DC-voltage PPU and the use of solid iodine as propellant, that can be substituted with Xenon fluidic line and tank when required. Its first mission will be onboard of Unisat-7 by GAUSS. The flight will take place in late 2020 in a Soyuz flight. During the mission, REGULUS will allow Unisat-7 to perform an orbit descending maneuver, drag compensation in VLEO and decommissioning.
