NASA SBIR 2006 Solicitation
FORM B - PROPOSAL SUMMARY
PROPOSAL NUMBER: |
06-2 S3.01-8780 |
PHASE 1 CONTRACT NUMBER: |
NNC07QA62P |
SUBTOPIC TITLE: |
Precision Spacecraft Formations for Advanced Telescope Systems |
PROPOSAL TITLE: |
Control Valve for Miniature Xenon Ion Thruster |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Mide Technology Corporation
200 Boston Avenue, Suite 1000
Medford, MA 02155 - 4243
(781) 306-0609
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Petra Botha
pbotha@mide.com
200 Boston Avenue, Suite 1000
Medford, MA 02155 - 4258
(781) 306-0609
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
NASA is continuing its development of electric propulsion engines for various applications. Efforts have been directed toward both large and small thrusters, depending on the end use. A current program is focused on the development of a miniature thruster. Development of a Miniature Xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster will enable precision spacecraft positioning and formation maneuvers for formation-flying spacecraft. The current MiXI thruster prototype will provide 0.5 3 mN thrust at 3000 sec specific impulse and efficiencies around 50% or better. The MiXI thruster will use Xenon propellant, a noble gas, minimizing spacecraft contamination.(http://dst.jpl.nasa.gov/thrusters/) One of the challenges of such a thruster is to be able to accurately control the flow of propellant. The required flow rates are on the order of 0.1 to 1.0 sccm of Xenon. To this end Midé, in Phase I, demonstrated that a small flow control valve, based on piezoelectric technology, met all performance objectives. Midé is a world leader in this technology, demonstrated by its existing patented packaged actuator product line and past valve experience. Aerojet provided electric propulsion expertise for the duration of the program and serve as a technology integration and transition path.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Midé is involved with a commercial partner to optimize oxygen respirator usage though the use of accurately controlled low powered piezo valve. The military also maintains a presence in space that can require accurate precision positioning of their assets. A small valve can find application in precision process control in the manufacturing industry and in the medical field for accurately controlling small amounts of fluids or gasses.
A general trend towards smaller flow control devices can be seen across several industries. The driving force behind this trend is the large mass-to-power and mass-to-response capacity of the miniature device. These valves are widely used in dispensing of high purity or aggressive fluids. Some of the largest markets for miniature valves are in the biotechnology industry and in laboratory equipment. Typically these valves are mass-produced as OEM products for incorporation into smaller sensing products.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The initial platform for the MiXI thrusters requires 18 thrusters per spacecraft. Since there are 5 spacecraft, and 2 valves per thruster for redundancy, there is a potential to deliver 180 valves. In addition, this valve helps to meet a technology gap that exists for this thrust range.
One focus area of late in satellite design is a push for multiple, smaller satellites that are maintained in tight formations. This allows for larger aperture space telescopes without the need to build one large spacecraft. A key ingredient to the success of these formation flying spacecraft are the thrusters needed to maintain the tight distances from spacecraft to spacecraft. The station keeping thrusters of these small spacecraft must provide a sufficiently small impulse bit to actively and accurately control their position. The proposed piezo based valves can easily meet these requirements for all small scale thruster station keeping needs.
NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.
TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING |
Feed System Components
Micro Thrusters
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
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Form Generated on 08-02-07 14:39
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