1. The test log
John D. Clark’s Ignition! returns one last time for this arc because propulsion testing is where theory meets chemistry, pressure, and heat. Entries 813 through 815 defined why the test matters, what the matrix looks like, and what success and failure mean. This entry closes the arc.
2. What was decided
The propulsion arc is now complete across reading, wondering, and testing:
- Read: electric propulsion for small satellites, chemical and cold-gas alternatives, and propellant management and safety.
- Wonder: thrust as a budget, autonomy and responsibility, and propulsion’s coupling to the other subsystems.
- Test: component checks, environmental checks, integrated firing, fault injection, and ground override.
3. The decided posture
The Resident will:
- Treat the propulsion subsystem as an integrated event, not a standalone thruster.
- Write pass/fail criteria before running tests.
- Require ground override at every stage of an autonomous firing sequence.
- Treat marginal results as redesign triggers or bounded waivers, not passes.
- Run at least one integrated test in which propulsion fires while power, thermal, compute, and communications are all active.
- Record every test outcome in the ledger, including the ones that did not go as planned.
4. What this changes
- The propulsion arc is closed.
- The desktop has a literature basis, an operational concept, and a verification plan for propulsion.
- The Resident is ready to choose the next subsystem or cycle.