Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs
The characterization of a miniaturized ionic liquid electrospray thruster for nanosatellite applications is presented. The thruster investigated features an emitter array of 480 emitter tips per square centimeter and a 1 cm[superscript 3] propellant tank with an entirely passive propellant supply;...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108538 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1648-0902 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 |
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| author | Thomas, Robert Haag, Thomas Krejci, David Mier Hicks, Fernando Lozano, Paulo C |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Thomas, Robert Haag, Thomas Krejci, David Mier Hicks, Fernando Lozano, Paulo C |
| author_sort | Thomas, Robert |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The characterization of a miniaturized ionic liquid electrospray thruster for nanosatellite applications is presented. The thruster investigated features an emitter array of 480 emitter tips per square centimeter and a 1 cm[superscript 3] propellant tank with an entirely passive propellant supply; it is operated at a power level of less than 0.15 W. The paper presents energy- and mass-resolving beam spectroscopy of the packaged thruster system, as well as two independent thrust measurements. This allows derivation of thruster performance parameters under realistic firing conditions, including individual thruster efficiency contributions, specific impulse, and thrust. The total thruster efficiencies of 36%; specific impulse of ∼760 s, including all losses; and thrust of 11–12.5 μN are presented at emission currents of 150 μA for a device of ∼1 cm[superscript 2]. The current emission data without current decay of ∼90 h are presented with a maximum of 172 h. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:50:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/108538 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:50:16Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1085382022-09-23T14:52:38Z Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs Thomas, Robert Haag, Thomas Krejci, David Mier Hicks, Fernando Lozano, Paulo C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Krejci, David Krejci, David Mier Hicks, Fernando Lozano, Paulo C The characterization of a miniaturized ionic liquid electrospray thruster for nanosatellite applications is presented. The thruster investigated features an emitter array of 480 emitter tips per square centimeter and a 1 cm[superscript 3] propellant tank with an entirely passive propellant supply; it is operated at a power level of less than 0.15 W. The paper presents energy- and mass-resolving beam spectroscopy of the packaged thruster system, as well as two independent thrust measurements. This allows derivation of thruster performance parameters under realistic firing conditions, including individual thruster efficiency contributions, specific impulse, and thrust. The total thruster efficiencies of 36%; specific impulse of ∼760 s, including all losses; and thrust of 11–12.5 μN are presented at emission currents of 150 μA for a device of ∼1 cm[superscript 2]. The current emission data without current decay of ∼90 h are presented with a maximum of 172 h. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NNL13AA12C) 2017-05-01T17:40:28Z 2017-05-01T17:40:28Z 2017-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-4650 1533-6794 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108538 Krejci, David et al. “Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs.” Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets 54.2 (2017): 447–458. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1648-0902 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.A33531 Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Krejci |
| spellingShingle | Thomas, Robert Haag, Thomas Krejci, David Mier Hicks, Fernando Lozano, Paulo C Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title | Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title_full | Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title_fullStr | Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title_short | Emission Characteristics of Passively Fed Electrospray Microthrusters with Propellant Reservoirs |
| title_sort | emission characteristics of passively fed electrospray microthrusters with propellant reservoirs |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108538 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4278-8951 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1648-0902 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 |
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