The effect of fuel to oxidiser ratio on the thrust performance of a novel CubeSat propulsion system is presented in this paper. This propulsion system uses aluminium wool as fuel and a mixture of water and sodium hydroxide as oxidiser. The goal of the experiment is to determine the effect of fuel to oxidiser ratio on the thrust profile of the device, as measured with a pendulum type thrust balance in a vacuum chamber facility. Experimental results show that a low fuel to oxidiser ratio reduces the propulsion efficiency and does not support multiple injections. A peak thrust value of 0.032 N was recorded with a specific impulse of 45 s. Based on this specific impulse the anticipated delta-V for a 1U CubeSat of 1.33 kg is 80 m/s, assuming a dry mass ratio of 83.33%.
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机译：本文介绍了燃料与氧化剂的比例对新型CubeSat推进系统推力性能的影响。该推进系统使用铝棉作为燃料，并使用水和氢氧化钠的混合物作为氧化剂。该实验的目的是确定燃料与氧化剂的比例对装置推力曲线的影响，如在真空室设备中采用摆式推力平衡所测量的。实验结果表明，较低的燃料与氧化剂比率降低了推进效率，并且不支持多次喷射。记录的最大推力值为0.032 N，比冲为45 s。基于该特定脉冲，假设干质量比为83.33％，则1.U立方卫星1.33 kg的预期delta-V为80 m / s。
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