News & Events
Operating Group News - Space & Defense Group
System Integration Contributes to Successful Start of Prisma Mission
24 June 2010East Aurora, NY – June 15, 2010. Last update Aug. 16, 2010. ECAPS, a subsidiary of the Swedish Space Corp. (SSC), announced the successful June 15th launch of the Prisma mission on a Dnepr rocket from Yazny, Russia. The pair of Prisma satellites, named Mango and Tango, were separated on August 12 and are flying individually. The GPS on each satellite is functioning normally, and the two satellites performed a formation flying demonstration. Tango experienced its final calibration and is now fully commissioned in preparation for the remainder of the mission. The satellites demonstrate an innovative 3-propellant system: hydrazine, High Performance Green Propellant (HPGP), and micro cold gas. The Prisma mission serves as the trial flight of HPGP and as a demonstration of formation flying and micropropulsion. Moog is proud to be ECAPS’ partner in providing critical hardware and integration support of the Prisma propulsion systems.
The HPGP is a monopropellant blend of Ammonium Dinitramide (ADN), water, methanol and ammonia. It has been tested and proven to be stable and is not carcinogenic, corrosive, environmentally hazardous, or sensitive to air or humidity exposure—all safety risks that more common fuels pose. The handlers at the Prisma launch were not required to wear Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble (SCAPE) suits but simply protective clothing, gloves, and face protection in case of back-splash. The time and cost benefits of HPGP are clear: shorter loading time with fewer handlers saves time and money. In addition, commercial air transport may now be a viable option for the propellant because of its lower sensitivity to pressure change and its UN classification.
Moog is proud to have a torque motor latch valve, solenoid thruster valves, and fill-drain valves on the new HPGP system. The hydrazine system, which has similar parts but a different model thruster valve than the HPGP system, was fully integrated in-house for the first time. The nano cold gas system uses Moog fill-drain valves and is intended to increase the accuracy of measurements and movements in space. However, the relationship between Moog and ECAPS is more than supplier to customer; it is a committed partnership and Moog will work with ECAPS to promote the HPGP system in the US for the first time.
The Prisma mission has been in planning and development since 2006, finally culminating in the successful launch. On June 23rd the system was successfully commissioned, and the following day the HPGP system was successfully test-fired for 40 pulses. The temperature and pressure were verified as stable. The expected next steps for the Prisma mission are GPS calibration, navigation experiments and flight demonstrations for each system. Moog’s components contribute to the successful performance of HPGP in the satellite; furthermore, our components were already compatible with the HPGP, meaning that we are poised for participation in additional green initiatives in space. Our flight heritage is ever-growing, and our heritage with HPGP is just beginning.
See the Prisma website for details and updates.
