Feasibility testing for high temperatures on SV14 cold gas jet thruster

This paper presents and discusses some fundamental feasibility test results from the Phase-B design activity of the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) cold-gas thruster, performed in the JAXA Satellite Propulsion Reliability Evaluation Test Stand at the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC). The tests were dedicated mainly to cycle motion test at the requested temperature, internal leakage, and valve response measurements. The tests apparently complied with the MMO system requirements for the high temperature Mercury orbital environment. As the next step, the MMO project and Marotta UK will develop the MMO Cold Gas thruster system's thruster valve based on SV14 cold thruster design .