CubeSat Wax Propellant Centrifuge
Contributors | Javier Stober, Juliet Wanyiri, Danielle Wood
Credit: Steve Boxall / ZERO-G
Wax-based propellants for hybrid chemical propulsion show great promise for future launchers and on- orbit maneuvering. Paraffin has been established as a high-performing rocket fuel, and beeswax is currently under investigation as a renewable alternative exhibiting similar performance.
The Space Enabled Research Group envisions reuse of wax-based thermal insulation already used on satellites as a candidate fuel for deorbit at end of mission. Such a propulsion system would require in situ centrifugal casting of the fuel. This research project aims to understand the laboratory- and microgravity-based centrifugal casting of paraffin and beeswax in order to reduce barriers to their use as in- space propellants.
Centrifugal casting experiments have thus far been conducted on two microgravity aircraft flights, with a third upcoming, as well as two confirmed upcoming suborbital spaceflights that provide longer-term microgravity. Water and oil are used in addition to wax to simulate the viscosity of waxes across temperature ranges of interest.
Credit: Project Team
Credit: Miles Lifson
News & Publications
Optical and Thermochemical Analysis for Paraffin and Beeswax Centrifugal Casting
Stober, K.J., Apodaca M., M.R., Sánchez, A., Kamath, A., Owens-Flores, G., Rupasinghe, D., Hernández L., A.E., Ngetich, G.C., and Wood, D., "Optical and Thermochemical Analysis for Paraffin and Beeswax Centrifugal Casting," AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, August 2021
Modelling and Simulation of In-Orbit Centrifugal Casting of a Paraffin Wax Grain Inside a 3U CubeSat
Leuteri C., D., Stober, K.J., Wood, D., and Colombo, C., "Modelling and Simulation of In-Orbit Centrifugal Casting of a Paraffin Wax Grain Inside a 3U CubeSat," AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, August 2021
An Investigation of the Laboratory-Based and Microgravity Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin Wax
Stober, K.J., Wanyiri, J., Sanchez, A., Jiwani, S., Hooper, M., Mazumder, M., Lifson, M., Joseph, C., and Wood, D., "An Investigation of the Laboratory-Based and Microgravity Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin Wax," IAC-19-A2.3.1.52725, 70th International Astronautical Congress, Washington, D.C., 21-25 October 2019
An Investigation of the Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin Wax in the Laboratory and in Microgravity
Stober, K.J., Wanyiri, J., Sanchez, A., Hooper, M., Mazumder, M., Jiwani, S., Waft, C., Lifson, M., Joseph, C., and Wood, D., "An Investigation of the Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin Wax in the Laboratory and in Microgravity," AIAA 2019-4012, AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, Indianapolis, IN, August 2019
Designing humanity’s future in space (MIT News)