{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/90806"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/90806","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"CubeSat attitude control using micronewton electrospray thruster actuation","abstract":"Micronewton electrospray thrusters are a promising new actuator for CubeSat attitude control. Electrospray thrusters have advantages over current state of the art CubeSat attitude actuators in mass, volume, and their ability to produce translational acceleration in addition to control moments. An attitude determination and control system was designed for a 1U CubeSat assuming commercial-off-the-shelf attitude determination hardware components and six electrospray thrusters developed by the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory. A high fidelity spacecraft dynamics simulation was constructed for analysis of the performance of the ADCS system. Attitude determination was tested with an engineering model of a 1U CubeSat, and the entire ADCS system was tested in simulation. Results of these preliminary tests show the use of electrospray thrusters as attitude actuators to be feasible, although significant work remains to complete a flight-ready ADCS system.","abstract_html":"Micronewton electrospray thrusters are a promising new actuator for CubeSat attitude control. Electrospray thrusters have advantages over current state of the art CubeSat attitude actuators in mass, volume, and their ability to produce translational acceleration in addition to control moments. An attitude determination and control system was designed for a 1U CubeSat assuming commercial-off-the-shelf attitude determination hardware components and six electrospray thrusters developed by the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory. A high fidelity spacecraft dynamics simulation was constructed for analysis of the performance of the ADCS system. Attitude determination was tested with an engineering model of a 1U CubeSat, and the entire ADCS system was tested in simulation. Results of these preliminary tests show the use of electrospray thrusters as attitude actuators to be feasible, although significant work remains to complete a flight-ready ADCS system.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Van de Loo, Mark David"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Sara Seager."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014","date_published":"2014","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:46Z","subjects":["Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90806","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Sara Seager."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90806"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2014.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-217)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Micronewton electrospray thrusters are a promising new actuator for CubeSat attitude control. Electrospray thrusters have advantages over current state of the art CubeSat attitude actuators in mass, volume, and their ability to produce translational acceleration in addition to control moments. An attitude determination and control system was designed for a 1U CubeSat assuming commercial-off-the-shelf attitude determination hardware components and six electrospray thrusters developed by the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory. A high fidelity spacecraft dynamics simulation was constructed for analysis of the performance of the ADCS system. Attitude determination was tested with an engineering model of a 1U CubeSat, and the entire ADCS system was tested in simulation. Results of these preliminary tests show the use of electrospray thrusters as attitude actuators to be feasible, although significant work remains to complete a flight-ready ADCS system."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["CubeSat attitude control using micronewton electrospray thruster actuation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Sara Seager."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"dc:creator":["Van de Loo, Mark David"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-10-08T15:30:21Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-10-08T15:30:21Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2014"],"dc:description":["Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2014.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-217)."],"dc:description.abstract":["Micronewton electrospray thrusters are a promising new actuator for CubeSat attitude control. Electrospray thrusters have advantages over current state of the art CubeSat attitude actuators in mass, volume, and their ability to produce translational acceleration in addition to control moments. An attitude determination and control system was designed for a 1U CubeSat assuming commercial-off-the-shelf attitude determination hardware components and six electrospray thrusters developed by the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory. A high fidelity spacecraft dynamics simulation was constructed for analysis of the performance of the ADCS system. Attitude determination was tested with an engineering model of a 1U CubeSat, and the entire ADCS system was tested in simulation. Results of these preliminary tests show the use of electrospray thrusters as attitude actuators to be feasible, although significant work remains to complete a flight-ready ADCS system."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90806"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"dc:title":["CubeSat attitude control using micronewton electrospray thruster actuation"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:46Z"}