Cold gas thruster are used in satellites as divert attitude control systems (DACS) to control its orientation. The video to our left is an example of a cold gas thruster system that is preventing spinning, which is not what we want, but is essentially the same system.

Our version of a cold gas thruster uses a 4500 psi carbon wrapped Ninja tank with a 200 psi Polar Star Regulator with two solenoids to activate each rotation of thrust (clock wise and counter clockwise). The thrusters used in our design were selected with our own MATLAB optimizer script. This system is controlled by our own custom proportional gain controller, to maintain an rpm setpoint.

(WARNING: VIDEO IS LOUD)

The NAU Rocket Club won first place in the FNL competition, were we compete with teams Across the nation, like University of Washington and UC Davis. Unfortunately, as seen in the video, our challenge system did not actuate during flight due to the batteries we were using. When the battery were under high load, the voltage dropped bellow the operating voltage of the solenoids. so, even though the flight computer was taking data and sending commands, the control vales didn't have enough power to open. We will be launching it again in the fall to give the challenge system a chance of redemption, and this time with lipo-batteries.