Miniaturized green end-burning hybrid propulsion system for cubesats

A method of operating a low-thrust, end-burn, hybrid propulsion system, the method comprising:

• providing a housing having first and second ends, a solid-grain fuel material free of an oxidizer and positioned in the housing at the first end and the second end, the solid-grain fuel material having an end-burning combustion surface at the first end and the second end, the first end-burning combustion surface facing the second end-burning combustion surface, at least two electrodes running through a length of the solid-grain fuel material and exposed to the second end-burning combustion surface, a combustion chamber defined between the first end-burning combustion surface and the second end-burning combustion surface, an oxidizer port extending through the housing and into the combustion chamber, and a nozzle positioned at the first end;
• delivering a flow of oxidizer through the oxidizer port and into the combustion chamber;
• igniting the first end-burning combustion surface and the second end-burning combustion surface with the at least two electrodes to generate a hot-gas, fuel-rich flow through the nozzle to generate thrust;
• wherein combustion of the solid-grain fuel material in the combustion chamber is dominated by radiative heat transfer at a steady state operating pressure of at least 150 PSI and is capable of producing a steady-state thrust between 0.1 and 1.2 N.