To design, manufacture and test a breadboard of a xenon-fed auxiliary thruster, operating in a wide range of inlet pressure (0-186bar) and delivering higher thrust than COTS xenon-fed thrusters.

All satellites must have the ability to correct for the high rotational tip-off rates after initial release from the launch vehicle. On current navigation satellites, de-tumbling is usually achieved in short duration using the onboard chemical propulsion thrusters. With future Navigation satellites looking at using all-electric propulsion satellites, these manouevres are to be performed by xenon-fed auxiliary thrusters. COTS (xenon cold gas) auxiliary thrusters are limited in the max thrust level provided and the de-tumbling duration, in the absence of chemical thrusters, is a concern. High thrust and high specific impulse auxiliary thrusters (e.g. xenon resistojets) will address this concern. In all-electric propulsion satellites, de-tumbling cannot be performed by the high-power/low-thrust Electric Propulsion (EP) thrusters without the solar array?s deployed. In place of a dedicated (and expensive) chemical propulsion system for this singular beginning of life application, presently, the only choice is to use low-pressure, xenon-fed cold gas thrusters connected to the low-pressure outlet of the same pressure regulator serving the EP thrusters. As stated above, the limited thrust increases the duration of de-tumbling and delays the start of the orbit raising.The proposed development would enable connecting the auxiliary thrusters directly to the high pressure xenon tank allowing significant increase to the delivered Thrust level (up to or above 2N) and thus shortening the duration of the de-tumbling and safe mode manouevres. Furthermore, replacing the cold-gas thrusters with resistojets will significantly improve the efficiency of these manouevres. With electrically heated propellant, these thrusters can achieve higher specific impulse, reducing the propellant used. This activity encompasses the following tasks: - Design a thruster exploiting the latest manufacturing technique developments. - Trade-off and selection of materials and manufacturing methods. - Perform engineering analyses to justify the improved design. - Test a breadboard cold-gas thruster OR warm-gas thruster OR a resistojet to characterise the performance (power consumption, specific impulse ,Thrust, Minimum Impulse Bit, pressure and temperature ranges).- Generate roadmap to complete full development up to the qualification.