• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.272-274
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• 2008

A development of hydrazine decomposition catalyst for monopropellant thruster has been performed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI). The goal of this development is to product a catalyst showing the equivalent performance with space-proven catalysts. Catalyst production and physical/chemical analysis were conducted by Chonnam National University and the analysis result was compared with the result of other catalysts and our own specification. Using the developed prototype catalyst, short firing test was performed in a reactor to verify basic performance of catalyst. After the successful reactor test, hot firing tests were carried out in atmospheric and vacuum condition using 5N thruster to verify durability and safety of catalyst. In this paper, the catalyst development status will be presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.151-154
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to identify the basic concept of thruster design through the visualization firing test on a hydrazine thruster. We designed the visual catalyst bed on the basis of the 1lbf hydrazine thruster for a low earth orbit satellite and observed visually the internal catalyst bed reaction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.407-412
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• 2006

Most of the monopropellant thrusters use catalyst for decomposing hydrazine. The thruster lifetime is determined mainly by catalyst lifetime, which can be investigated by firing tests. For the development of hydrazine decomposition catalyst, Hot-fire test to verify long-life performance of catalyst is required. This study describes the development of test equipment for long duration hot-firing and test/evaluation plan.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2009

KARI have been started development process of hydrazine decomposition catalyst for monopropellant thsuter from 2004 in cooperation with Chonnam National University and Hanwha Corps. Through the various trial and error, a catalyst that satisfies all the properties for space propulsion system was developed in 2009 and then the life firing test and qualification firing test was completed. In this paper, we will describe the development process of catalyst, the physical/chemical properties of final product and brief test results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.110-113
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• 2007

For the development of hydrazine decomposition catalyst, Hot-fire test to verify performance of catalyst is required. The purpose of a long-life firing test is to demonstrate the capability of a design to perform for the maximum duration or cycles of operation. This paper describes the progress of the catalyst performance test, explains the test matrix, and presents the test results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.292-295
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• 2004

Firing performance test of hydrazine decomposition catalyst which is used in mono-propellant thruster of satellite and launcher was peformed. Equipment for catalyst test was developed and with this equipment reaction delay time, catalyst activity, granule stability of the catalyst firing performance was measured and analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.7-14
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• 2011

Various sizes of hydrazine monopropellant thruster have been used on satellite and space launcher vehicle. The test and handling procedure of hydrazine monopropellant thruster are usually difficult because of the toxicity of hydrazine and its decomposition product gases. Therefore, the numerical analysis can help understand the effects of various design parameters and can reduce the time as well as expenses. In this study, the numerical analysis is performed by modelling the catalyst bed as one dimensional porous medium. Thereby, resulting physical phenomena are examined by considering the variation of catalyst bed characteristics incurred by catalyst granule failure.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.255-258
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• 2004

Hydrazine is a weak base and strong reducing agent in the aqueous solution and is primarily utilized as a high-energy rocket propellant and an oxygen scavenger in boiler or feedwater. The objective of this study was to investigate the physicochemical properties and reactions of hydrazine and the catalytic and thermal decomposition by the temperature change. Hydrazine was fast decomposed with the catalyst of lower activation energy and at the higher temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.378-382
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• 2008

A 50 N monopropellant thruster being developed for attitude control in a variety of aerospace application systems is described in this paper. Ninety percent hydrogen peroxide was selected as a propellant, since it is much less hazardous than hydrazine. A scaled down thruster with aluminum oxide loaded with the platinum in the reaction chamber was tested to determine propellant decomposition onto a catalyst. A scaled up 50 N thruster, with a catalyst bed of 3 cm in diameter and 4 cm in length, was evaluated by decomposition efficiency based on temperature, ${\eta}_T$, efficiency of characteristic velocity, ${\eta}_{C^*}$, and measurement of thrust. The performance of a 50 N thruster was 40.5 Newton in thrust, about 100 % in ${\eta}_T$, and 98 % in ${\eta}_{C^*}$, and 125 sec in specific impulse at sea level.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.645-648
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• 2011

Hydrazine which has been used as monopropellant shows high performance, but because of its high toxicity research for new green propellant that could replace hydrazine is going on. Ionic liquid propellant that is one of the green propellant has lower toxicity, higher specific impulse, and higher density than hydrazine. To design the thruster which use Hydroxylamine Nitrate (HAN), one of ionic liquid propellant, as a propellant, a quantity of catalyst for full decomposition of a propellant is needed. In this study, reference point for HAN thruster design could be suggested through a design of a small scale thruster which used HAN propellant, and propellant decomposition capability evaluation with characteristic velocity efficiency.