Methods to operate and evaluate the performance of a cold-gas CubeSat propulsion system on a magnetically stabilised satellite

Sammanfattning: Propulsion systems allow satellites to perform many functionalities in space, such as orbital station keeping, reentry control, attitude control, orbital transferring, rendezvous operation, and even more thrilling, interplanetary travel. Indeed, propulsion systems in satellites have fostered a new favourable era of space exploration and application, therefore, detailed processes to operate propulsion systems need to be developed so that space missions, carrying this valuable system, are completed successfully. The aim of this study is to describe the most relevant operating procedures for the cold gas propulsion system NanoProp 3U, developed by GomSpace, on-board the 3U CubeSat MIST satellite developed by KTH. Procedures, such as power levels, telemetry considerations, propellant mass determination, Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery analysis, and decommissioning plan allow proper operation of NanoProp according to the mission requirements determined for MIST mission. Moreover, this study describes detailed mission experiments to be performed with NanoProp with the objective of assessing the performance delivered by the propulsion system itself, and other on-board subsystems which are required for monitoring and controlling the spacecraft according to the effects generated by the propulsion system. The planning and operation of a propulsion system should be outlined on-ground, during the mission design, so a clear understanding of the characteristics and limitations of the system are highlighted towards the development of a secure and solid space mission.