Journal ArticleDOI
Spacecraft-Charging Characteristics Induced by the Operation of Electrospray Thrusters
TLDR
Theoretical and experimental methods were developed to investigate the charging characteristics anticipated to be observed on spacecraft during the operation of electrospray thrusters as mentioned in this paper, and the results from the experimental tests demonstrate that neutralization with heavy ionic species is indeed possible.Abstract:
Theoretical and experimental methods were developed to investigate the charging characteristics anticipated to be observed on spacecraft during the operation of electrospray thrusters These devices produce positively and negatively charged particles of similar mass and velocities An electrical model of this configuration was created to predict the charging properties of electrically isolated systems This model simulates a bipolar electrospray-thruster system Experiments were conducted on a test bed, in which a mock-up satellite is magnetically levitated inside a vacuum chamber The mock-up is equipped with batteries, power conditioning, radio transmitter, and electrospray thrusters The results from the experimental tests demonstrate that neutralization with heavy ionic species is indeed possible The thrusters are able to fire in a bipolar configuration for long periods of time inducing bounded spacecraft charging in the range from −400 to +600 V when emitting currents of about 20 μA It was found read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends
Akshay Reddy Tummala,Atri Dutta +1 more
TL;DR: An overview of micro-propulsion technologies that have been developed or are currently being developed for CubeSats is provided and operating principles and key design considerations for each class of propulsion system are outlined.
Journal ArticleDOI
Space Propulsion Technology for Small Spacecraft
David Krejci,Paulo C. Lozano +1 more
TL;DR: The purpose of this review is to describe the working principles of space propulsion technologies proposed so far for small spacecraft, down to the popular 1-L, 1-kg CubeSats and smaller.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrospray Thrusters as Precise Attitude Control Actuators for Small Satellites
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the use of electrospray propulsion devices as miniaturized actuators for precise attitude control of small satellites, including CubeSats, in the context of small satellite deployment.
Journal ArticleDOI
Measurement of the dissociation rates of ion clusters in ionic liquid ion sources
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measured the dissociation rate-constants of ion clusters for several ionic liquids and found that ion cluster dissociation occurs on timescales of the order of 1-5 μs and follows a constant-rate equation in the region outside the ion source.
Journal ArticleDOI
Charge Neutralization and Direct Thrust Measurements from Bipolar Pairs of Ionic- Electrospray Thrusters
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a neutra neutra-based propulsion system for both positive and negative beams, each contributing similarly to the thrust of the electric propulsion system, which could be prevented without a dedicated neutra.
References
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Ionic liquid ion sources: characterization of externally wetted emitters.
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PatentDOI
Increase of electrospray throughput using multiplexed microfabricated sources for the scalable generation of monodisperse droplets
TL;DR: In this article, a microfabricated system of electrospraying and a method of fabricating the multiplex system is provided in order to increase by orders of magnitude the liquid flow rate to be dispersed and of retaining the quasi-monodispersity of the generated droplets.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mechanisms of electrospray ionization of singly and multiply charged salt clusters
TL;DR: In this article, a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and a particle size magnifier (PSM) detector are used to count single ions and to infer their charge state.