One of the end-of-life strategies for modern satellites is deorbitation manoeuvre. It consists of a significant decrease in the orbit altitude, leading the satellite burn up in the atmosphere. This prevents the generation of new space debris. Development of a dedicated Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) for the European Space Agency is carried out by the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation and its partners in Poland. Solid Propellant De-orbit Motor Engineering Model Development (SPRODEM) project is consecutive activity for ESA in which Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation is working on space debris mitigation. The main purpose of this project is to develop SRM engineering model and to check its performance during dedicated tests. The outcome of this project will be a Solid Rocket Motor generating 250 N thrust, which as base part of the deorbitation system will be competitive product on the European market. Solid particles generation was mitigated via use of a high performance non-aluminized propellant, which was developed in previous project: Pre-Qualification of Aluminium-Free Solid Propellant (ASPro). The Motor is designed to be scalable and used in clusters, enabling application for wide range of spacecrafts. This motor was designed for long in-orbit storage. Additionally, it can be equipped in a Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system, which increases control over the spacecraft deorbitation trajectory.
Project coordinator: Paweł Nowakowski, Eng.
Phone: (+ 48) 22 846 00 11 ext. 419
E-mail: pawel.nowakowski@ilot.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Project duration: 15.01.2019 – 31.08.2022
Funding institution: European Space Agency
Programme name: ESA – GSTP
Consortium: Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, Mesko S.A., Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, ZPS Gamrat Sp. z o.o.