Deployable umbrella-shaped keel concentrator used in solar thermal propulsion system

A deployable umbrella-shaped keel concentrator has been proposed for the solar thermal thruster (STP) system. The improved concentrator overcomes the shortcomings of traditional inflatable concentrators and rigid fixed concentrators. A deployable solar paraboloid concentrator has been designed. It adopts the collapsible umbrella-shaped keel with a concentration power of 100 kW and an aperture radius of this 4.9 m. The performance of the STP system equipped with this concentrator has been investigated with the software Fluent. The results reveal that the thrust and specific impulse can reach 10.23 N and 701.4 s respectively, indicating this system is applicable to attitude control and orbit transfer for micro- and nano-satellites.