Russia.. Developing engines for nano-satellites

Russia – Specialists at the Ryazan Radiotechnical University have developed motors for use in nanosatellites.

This was reported by the Russian newspaper “Izvestia”, citing the Patent Office, which said that the patent for the motors was obtained this year, and the motors are allocated to the “Piko” satellites with a weight ranging between 100 grams and one kilogram, and the “Femto” model with a weight of less than 100 grams. And the “Addo” model weighs less than 10 grams.

According to the newspaper, satellites can be launched into Earth’s orbit within a cloud of space devices, and may form various structures, including special networks for catching space particles or network antennas that receive and send signals.

Leading engineer at Ryazan University, Vladimir Lenkov, said: “We are accustomed to Cobsight satellites weighing up to 10 kilograms, but space technologies are advancing and require more complex and smaller devices to carry out some space missions.” Our invention will enable space devices to perform maneuvers with extreme precision.

According to Lenkov, the new engines are a matrix consisting of tiny cells, each of which has a few charges of solid fuel distributed. These structures can be compared to pixels on a computer screen that light up when they receive a signal from the controller. As a result, an image is formed from many pixels, like a group of engines in the matrix, where charges are operated in the various sections of the satellite to determine the direction of its movement, and thus the idea of ​​tiny digital jet engines is realized.

Lenkov indicated that models of these engines have been developed. In the future, it will be tested and modifications will be made to its design for use in various space programmes.

Source: TASS