CHIPS CubeSat High Impulse Propulsion System
CU Aerospace
Miniaturized propulsion combining main thruster with 3-axis attitude control — non-toxic self-pressurizing propellants, 120M+ valve actuations, 0.54U CHIPS-180 variant.
Typed specifications5 values
Discloses 2 of 11 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 3).
- Envelope (L×W×H)
- 0.54U product page As small as 0.3U
- Total impulse
- 180 N·s product page
- Propellant
- R236fa product page R134a
Each value is typed with its unit and measurement condition and cites the datasheet page it was taken from. Nothing is guessed: a field that is absent here has not been published by the manufacturer. machine-extracted ✓ checked by NewSpace Market ✓ manufacturer confirmed by the manufacturer.
As published by the supplier7 lines, in the manufacturer's own wording
- Propellant options
- R236fa and R134a (range-safety approved)
- Chips-180 size
- 0.54U
- Chips-180 total impulse
- 180 N-s
- Valve cycle life
- >120 million actuations
- Temperature rise
- ~1°C per 10-min cycle
- Minimum package size (no ACS)
- As small as 0.3U
- ISP advantage over cold gas
- ~50% higher
About
CHIPS uses CU Aerospace’s high-efficiency resistojet (superheater) technology with inert propellants. Its valving has been cycled over 120 million actuations. Waste heat from electronics and the resistojet is regeneratively recovered to evaporate propellant, keeping system temperature rise to about 1°C over 10-minute cycles. The all-welded CHIPS-180 variant is an ultra-compact, fully throttleable system; the package can incorporate up to eight ACS thrusters for full 6-degree-of-freedom operation.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.