Standard Micro Propulsion System (MiPS)
VACCO Industries
VACCO's Standard MiPS is a modular cold gas propulsion system providing attitude control and delta-V for CubeSats and SmallSats, flight-proven on the Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Power
- 1 W
- Thrust
- 0.025 N
- Total impulse
- 82 N·s
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Performance Density
- 228 to 358 N-sec/L
- Thruster Count
- Four 25mN cold gas thrusters
- Total Impulse (scalable)
- 82 to 515 N-sec
- Thrust Angle ("B")
- 0° to 30°
- Max Pressure
- <100 psia (Range Safety Friendly design)
- Pressure Boundary
- Leak before burst
- Digital Interface
- Integral Microcontroller with RS422 digital interface
- Radiation Tolerance
- Radiation resistant components with integral shielding
- Software
- Robust, sophisticated flight-proven software
- Input Power
- Accepts unregulated input power
- Power (comms/health monitoring)
- <1W required for communication and health monitoring
- Peak Power
- 12W peak power
- Valves
- Frictionless space quality valves
- Structure
- All-welded, high strength structure
- Component Integration
- Fully manifolded components (no tubing)
About
The Standard Micro Propulsion System (MiPS) is a highly reliable, intelligent, attitude and delta-V propulsion system developed by VACCO for CubeSat and SmallSat applications. It draws on components and manufacturing methods derived from 60 years of space experience, including two systems that powered the highly successful Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats. The system features four 25mN cold gas thrusters, with bolt-on nozzles that facilitate a wide range of fixed thrust directions, including ‘B’ thrust angles from 0° to 30°. The modular design can be scaled from 82 to 515 N-sec Total Impulse, with custom versions also available, and achieves a performance density of 228 to 358 N-sec/Liter. The design is range safety friendly, operating below 100 psia, and incorporates a leak-before-burst pressure boundary. It includes an integral microcontroller with an RS422 digital interface, radiation resistant components with integral shielding, and robust, sophisticated flight-proven software. The system accepts unregulated input power, requiring less than 1W for communication and health monitoring and up to 12W peak power. Construction uses frictionless space quality valves, an all-welded high strength structure, and fully manifolded components with no tubing.
Documentation
Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.