COLD START SURGE CURRENT LIMITING SYSTEM FOR A HYDRAZINE THRUSTER AUGMENTATION HEATER

摘要

COLD START SURGE CURRENT LIMITING SYSTEM FOR A HYDRAZINE THRUSTER AUGMENTATION HEATER An electrothermal hydrazine thruster passes hydrazine through a catalyst bed and an augmentation heater. The augmentation heater includes an electrical heating element powered by a satellite battery. A load resistance is coupled in series with the heating element to reduce the current through the electrical circuit including the heating element to a safe level. A switch coupled across the load resistance is closed to bypass the load resistance after the heating element heats up and its resistance increases to a value sufficient to allow the battery circuit to tolerate the current level which results from this change in resistance and from the bypassing of the load resistance means.