Major Areas of Opportunity - Implications of Emerging Micro-and Nanotechnologies - page 105

FIGURE 3-16 Planar glass layers for a batch-producible cold gas propulsion module.
SOURCE: Huang, A., W.W. Hansen, S.W. Janson, and H. Helvajian. 2002. Development
of a 100-gm-class inspector satellite using photostructurable glass/ceramic materials.
Pp. 297-304 in Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics, Proceedings of
SPIE Volume 4637. K. Sugioka, M.C. Gower, R.F. Haglund, Jr., A. Pique, F. Traeger, J.J.
Dubowski, and W. Hoving, eds. Bellingham, Wash.: The International Society for Optical
Engineering.
zation of thrust. Significant system advantage can accrue if a standard microrocket
module—well developed, well characterized, and manufactured in quantity inex-
pensively—is adopted for multiple applications, with different numbers of en-
gine modules utilized, depending on the mission. This has the potential to dra-
matically reduce the cost of space propulsion. Also, the very small size of
individual motors yields very fast start-up and shutdown times, which allow a
highly precise impulse increment to be imparted to a vehicle.
An example of prototype thruster system components that could be produced
by batch-fabrication techniques is shown in Figure 3-16. Six micromachined
glass layers form a liquid storage tank, gas/liquid separator, gas plenum, gas
distribution plumbing, and nozzles for a cold gas propulsion system. While this
set of glass wafers was fabricated using direct-write laser-patterning of Foturan™
glass, mass production would utilize Foturan™, planar masks, and UV exposure
much like the photopatterning step in the fabrication of semiconductor wafers.
The layers could also be fabricated out of silicon using photolithography and
deep reactive ion etching. This stack utilizes five miniature solenoid valves with
six nozzles to provide translational thrust along two axes and rotation about the