Laboratory Demonstration of a Staging System for Electrospray Thrusters

Abstract

Development of high-ΔV propulsion systems compatible with the CubeSat form factor is one of the last remaining technology gaps required to open up deep-space missions to CubeSats. Electrospray thrusters are a promising technology due to their inherently small form factor. However, the ΔV output of current electrospray thrusters is insufficient for a deep-space mission due to lifetime limitations. The use of a staging system, analogous to launch vehicle staging, allows the lifetime limitations to be bypassed in order to in- crease the overall lifetime of the propulsion system. The core concept of staging as well as the required mechanisms have been developed in previous work. This work contributes towards the development of staging systems by performing the first demonstration of a staging system with electrospray thrusters. Two separate stages of thrusters are fired in a vacuum environment with an intermediate staging event thereby verifying the mechanical and electrical feasibility of the staging configuration.