Performance Measurement and Propellant Testing for the STEP-1 CubeSat Elecrospray Thrusters
Name
IEPC_2022_Thrusters.pdf
Size
7.66 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4c44ddacb3c7c72e596671ad74dc2186
Author(s)
Pettersson, Gustav M.
Bruno, Amelia R.
Corrado, Matthew N.
Medina, Bryan S.
Krejci, David
Lozano, Paulo C.
Date Issued
June 2022
Citation
Pettersson, Gustav M., Bruno, Amelia R., Corrado, Matthew N., Medina, Bryan S., Krejci, David et al. 2022. "Performance Measurement and Propellant Testing for the STEP-1 CubeSat Elecrospray Thrusters."
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Electrosprays are a promising technology for highly effective propulsion for CubeSats and other small satellites. In this work we present the design, initial operations, and performance measurements of the latest generation of ion Electrospray Propulsion System (iEPS). Choosing the best ionic liquid propellant is discussed, where we note that the common EMI-BF4 tends to absorb large amounts of water from the atmosphere. We suggest instead to use EMI-CF3BF3, which hardly absorbs water and performs as well or better than EMI-BF4 in our results. The thrusters tested here produce around 12 micronewtons of thrust at a specific impulse of around
600 seconds, while only consuming 120 milliwatts of power.
Description
37th International Electric Propulsion Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://www.electricrocket.org/IEPC_2022_Papers.html
