ALPHARD Monopropellant Family

The ALPHARD family is a line of monopropellant propulsion thrusters using High Test Peroxide (HTP) at 90 w% concentration (customizable up to 95 w%) as propellant, intended for small satellites, deployers, and orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs). The family covers a range of thrust classes: ALPHARD-10 and ALPHARD-10-HP (10 N class), ALPHARD-20 and ALPHARD-20-HP (20 N class), and ALPHARD-200 (200 N class). All variants operate in Δv+RCS operational mode and share a steady-state average vacuum Isp of 160 s and a 60:1 nozzle expansion ratio, with customizable expansion ratio and optional scarfed and canted nozzle configurations. The 10 N and 20 N variants use solenoid flow control valves operated in a Peak & Hold control routine; standard versions operate at 10-28 bar inlet pressure (28 bar MEOP) while the ‘-HP’ (high pressure) versions operate at 10-50 bar inlet pressure (50 bar MEOP), giving the HP versions a higher maximum thrust and minimum impulse bit (MIB) range. The ALPHARD-200 operates at 10-27 bar inlet pressure (27 bar MEOP) and produces 100-230 N thrust, though its flow control valve is not currently available. Thruster masses range from 0.332 kg (ALPHARD-10/-10-HP) to 1.2 kg (ALPHARD-200, without FCV), with overall lengths from 170 mm to 280 mm and maximum diameters from 60 mm to 90 mm. All variants have demonstrated life testing: the 10 N and 20 N variants have demonstrated 4000 pulses and 6000 s of accumulated firing time, while the ALPHARD-200 has demonstrated 1600 pulses and 500 s of accumulated firing time. Total impulse demonstrated ranges from 56,505.6 Ns (10 N variants) to 113,011.2 Ns (20 N variants) and 100,000 Ns (ALPHARD-200).