Project Sponsor : NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Start Date : 08/01/2023
Faculty Investigator : Dr. Glenn Lightsey
Project Status : Design phase
Green Propellant Dual Mode (GPDM) is an upcoming technology demonstration mission led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center which aims to fly for the first time a satellite using a single liquid propellant to fuel both high-thrust chemical monopropellant and high-efficiency electric thrusters. The propellant used will be the green monopropellant AF-M315E, also known as ASCENT. The spacecraft will be a 6U CubeSat for which the Dual Mode Propulsion System (DMPS) is the primary payload, launched on a rideshare with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The spacecraft will use a high-power S-band radio to communicate via NASA’s Near Space Network (NSN) with the ground. This technology aims to significantly increase the on-board propulsive capabilities of future small spacecraft by allowing for both high thrust and high efficiency propulsion to be carried aboard CubeSat-class spacecraft along with a meaningful payload. These capabilities will allow for the usage of trajectories which have thus far been difficult to achieve by CubeSats due to propulsive limitations.Georgia Tech’s Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) serves multiple roles in the project. SSDL is responsible for the structure, flight software, avionics, and integration of the DMPS. Additionally, the rest of the GPDM spacecraft bus will be designed, manufactured, integrated, and tested at GT SSDL. Finally, SSDL will operate the GPDM spacecraft from its Mission Operations Center (MOC) via communications link provided by NASA’s NSN.
The image is the Lunar Flashlight propulsion system also developed at SSDL under the supervision of Dr. Lightsey, from which the GPDM draws heritage.