Design, Fabrication, and Test of a Microelectromechanical-System-Based Millinewton-Level Hydrazine Thruster

摘要

The fabrication and performance of a ～1 mN MEMS-based hydrazine thruster composed of a microreactor and a micronozzle were presented. The designed catalyst bed (iridium deposited on a Ti/SiO_X/Si support) had a high surface-to-volume ratio of 84 mm~2/mm~3, yielding a high ammonia dissociation (92.3-94.6%) for the tested N_2H_4 flow rates (0.43-1.20 mg/s). The peak performance of the microthruster was obtained at a N_2H_4_4 flow rate of 0.631 mg/s, at which a vacuum thrust of 1.01 mN was produced with an I_SP close to 162 s, which was mainly due to heat loss. Although a better microthrast stand and more careful measurements are required to further characterize the designed thruster, the preliminary test results demonstrate the feasibility of using hydrazine in MEMS-based microthruster operation.