SBIR Phase I: Rotating Detonation Combustion Satellite Thruster Using Novel, Non-toxic Propellants

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a new satellite thruster with improved performance over competing chemical propulsion solutions. The space economy is rapidly growing to a projected $1 trillion industry by 2030. Despite the strong demand for products and services offered by space providers, there remains a large barrier to accessing and operating in space.

The key driver in the economics of operation in space is the performance of the propulsion systems used for transferring the satellite to its intended orbit, performing orbital maneuvers, station-keeping, and de-orbiting at the end of life. Currently, a large portion of the satellite mass must be allocated to propellant, significantly limiting the size and weight that can be allocated to revenue-generating and mission-critical functions like imaging, telecommunications, and other scientific objectives.

The thruster developed under this Phase I is projected to operate with significantly higher specific impulse than the current highest-performance solution, leading to an increase in satellite lifespan on the order of 100% in low earth orbit. This new paradigm will permit improvements such as a 40% increase in camera resolution, or an increase of 40% in the amount of mass that can be moved to geostationary orbit.

The intellectual merit of this project is the development of a new in-space thruster using rotating detonation combustion (RDC) and non-toxic propellants. RDC uses detonation combustion to burn reactants at a higher pressure and extract more usable kinetic energy for the same amount of propellant mass. This SBIR effort will also innovate the use of non-toxic propellants which heretofore have not been investigated for use in an RDC.

The overall objective for the NSF SBIR program is to develop a pre-flight qualification RDC satellite thruster prototype by focusing on three major goals: (1) development of a performance and detonation prediction tool, (2) demonstration of RDC for the thrust class and propellants of interest, and (3) demonstration of the performance benefit of RDC for the application. These goals will be achieved through a parallel efforts to develop an advanced computational modelling tool as well as initiatives for production and hot-fire testing of the first prototype.

By the end of the Phase I program, the goal is to advance the technology to a higher state of feasibility: demonstration of the prototype’s performance in a relevant, vacuum environment.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.