At present, very few CubeSats have flown in space featuring propulsion systems. Of those
that have, the literature is scattered, published in a variety of formats (conference …

CubeSats have been extensively used in the past decade as scientific tools, technology
demonstrators and for education. Recently, PocketQubes have emerged as an interesting …

The research challenges for electric propulsion technologies are examined in the context of
s-curve development cycles. It is shown that the need for research is driven both by the …

The key role of autonomous systems in future space missions has made model predictive
control a very attractive guidance and control technique. However, the capability of low …

Abstract Pulsed Plasma Thruster for Cubesat Propulsion (PPTCUP) is an ablative pulsed
plasma thruster designed with the aim of providing translational and orbital control to …

Technological miniaturization has enabled the development of small satellites weighing as
little as 1 kg. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of suitable efficient micropropulsion systems at …

The number of launches of nano-and pico-satellites has significantly increased over the past
decade. Miniaturized subsystems, such as micropropulsion, for these classes of spacecraft …

The aerospace industry is recently expressing a growing interest in green, safe and non-
toxic propellants for the propulsion systems of the new generation of space vehicles, which …

This paper describes the design and testing of the engineering model of a pulsed plasma
thruster for Cubesat applications (PPTCUP-EM). It has been developed by Mars Space Ltd …

Pulsed plasma thrusters (PPT) have demonstrated enormous potential since the 1960s. One
major shortcoming is their low thrust efficiency, typically< 30%. Most of these losses are due …