Colloid thruster
A colloid thruster (or "
Like other ion thrusters, its benefits include high efficiency, thrust density, and specific impulse; however it has very low total thrust, on the order of micronewtons. It provides very fine attitude control or efficient acceleration of small spacecraft over long periods of time.
Flight use
Eight electrospray thrusters were first used in space on the NASA ST-7 ESA LISA Pathfinder mission, to demonstrate disturbance reduction.[2] Having logged roughly 1,400 hours on-orbit, the Busek built thrusters system met 100% of their mission goals for the LISA Pathfinder mission.[3]
By the end of April 2015, Busek had developed a smaller electrospray colloid thruster capable of generating 20 mN in a 17.8 x 17.8 x 4.3 cm (7"×7"×1.7") package.[4]
Experiments
In July 2013, scientists from
The
See also
- Electrospray ionization
- Ionic liquid
- Ion thrusters
- Taylor cone
References
- ^ "MicroNewton Thruster (MNT)". Glenn Research Center -NASA. 1998. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
- ^ "ST7 Lisa Pathfinder". busek.com. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
- ^ NASA Microthrusters Achieve Success on ESA's LISA Pathfinder
- ^ 20mN, Variable Specific Impulse Colloid Thruster, Phase II Project. 2015. NASA.
- Michigan Tech, 8 August 2016, accessed 11 August 2016
- ^ "Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) Projects". NASA. NASA. May 5, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
External links