The IFM 350 Nano Thruster - Introducing very high Δv Capabilities for Nanosats and Cubesats

Reissner, Alexander

doi:10.2514/6.2016-5044

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In a highly successful FEEP design, a "crown" emitter is being used, enabling the extraction of ions from multiple emitters through a single circular aperture as depicted in Fig. 3 [13,14]. Some previous electrospray designs have used a linear extracting aperture slot for multiple emitters as depicted in Fig.…”

Section: Thruster Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bimodal Propulsion System for Small Spacecraft: Design, Fabrication, and Performance Characterization

Little

Jugroot

2020

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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The use of multimodal space propulsion has the benefit of increasing satellite mission flexibility with the ultimate goal of decreasing mission development costs. The present paper explores the development of a dual-mode thruster for small spacecraft. By combining an electrospray within the confines of a cold gas nozzle, the fabricated and tested propulsive device can operate either in a high thrust or high specific impulse mode. The thruster herein makes use of a laser microfabricated porous glass triangular prism electrospray emitter using passively fed ionic liquid (EMI-BF 4 ) as propellant. The electrospray performance has been indirectly quantified with beam current measurements on the order of 200 nA at an extraction voltage of 2.5 kV, which correlates to a significantly lower thrust than expected. For the second thrust mode, cold gas thrust and specific impulse were measured directly to be 7.9 mN and 44 s, respectively, using nitrogen propellant. The operation of this device in both modes has exemplified its potential applicability to microspacecraft while demonstrating the tradeoffs of bimodal thruster design.

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Section: Thruster Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bimodal Propulsion System for Small Spacecraft: Design, Fabrication, and Performance Characterization

Little

Jugroot

2020

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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“…Generally cubesats are more volume limited than power limited, slightly favouring I sp over efficiency. C urrently, there are several commercial prototypes in existence which could in principle fit t he r equirements o f t he proposed mission, such as the BIT-1 from Busek [9], the IFM 350 Nano [10] or the Tile 5000 AS [11], [12]. However available thrusters with high I sp suffer from low thrust levels (see table I).…”

Section: Propulsion Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

CubeSat Lunar Positioning System Enabled by Novel On-Board Electric Propulsion

Wijnen

Agüera-Lopez

Correyero-Plaza

et al. 2018

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Due to the advances in miniaturization Cubesats are becoming more versatile, with projected mission capabilities that are traditionally reserved for larger satellites. However they are still limited by a lack of efficient propulsive means. A novel electric thruster based on Electron Cyclotron Resonance heating and Magnetic Nozzle acceleration may provide a suitable yet simple solution. This device, while currently providing 1000 s Isp and 1 mN of thrust at 30W of power, may enable Lunar CubeSat missions from GEO using on-board propulsion. An example mission to provide GPS on the Lunar surface using 3U CubeSats in a 60°:28/4/6 Walker constellation with a semi-major axis of 4000 km is proposed; a preliminary assessment of this mission, together with the satellite architecture and cost, is performed. Concurrent trajectory design for very-low-energy transfers is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the mission and its impact on the space-craft design.

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“…= Field Emission Electric Propulsion IFM = Indium FEEP Multiemitter mN-FEEP = FEEP with around 1 mN of thrust LMIS = Liquid Metal Ion Source IOD = In -Orbit Demonstration 1 Researcher, Aerospace Engineering, jelem@fotec.at 2 Deputy Head of Department, Aerospace Engineering, seifert@fotec.at 3 Researcher, Aerospace Engineering, buldrini@fotec.at 4 Researcher, Aerospace Engineering, hoerbe@fotec.at 5 CEO, reissner@enpulsion.com 6 Spacecraft Engineer at ESA, torsten.vogel@esa.int…”

Section: Feepmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More than 10 years of development efforts have resulted in a highly efficient ion source, which builds the foundation for the current success of the IFM thruster family. The most recent development is the IFM Nano thruster [4] , which features a porous crown emitter, all required power and control electronics and a thermionic neutralizer for charge compensation in less than one CubeSat unit of volume (Figure 2, left). If higher thrust levels or an increased total impulse are required, several of these thrusters can be clustered (Figure 2 To meet the market demand for such a propulsion system, the spin-off company ENPULSION was founded.…”

Section: Iintroductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Mapping and Qualification of the IFM Nano Thruster FM for in Orbit Demonstration

Jelem¹,

Seifert²,

Sypniewski³

et al. 2017

53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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The Aerospace Department at FOTEC has been developing the mN-FEEP technology under ESA research contracts for the last decades with the purpose to create a highly controllable and efficient propulsion technology for future science missions. The mN-FEEP thrusters use a crown of sharpened porous Tungsten needles which are wetted with liquid Indium. This crown is raised to a high positive potential to emit and accelerate In + ions. This thruster technology has undergone extensive testing in recent years, including performance mapping of more than hundred emitters and lifetime testing up to more than 13.000 h. Based on this technology, the IFM Nano thruster has been developed as a commercial product for small satellites. This integrated ion propulsion system fits into a volume of less than a single unit CubeSat. In 2017, the first flight model has been manufactured to be flown on an in-orbit demonstration mission, supported by the ESA IOD program ATLAS. This paper presents the results from the extensive test campaigns on proto-flight model level, including efficiency mapping of all subsystems and the validation of the neutralization strategy. The results show that the IFM Nano thruster design is fully functional and provide an outlook on the performance to be expected during in-orbit operation.

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The IFM 350 Nano Thruster - Introducing very high Δv Capabilities for Nanosats and Cubesats

Cited by 11 publications

References 3 publications

Bimodal Propulsion System for Small Spacecraft: Design, Fabrication, and Performance Characterization

Bimodal Propulsion System for Small Spacecraft: Design, Fabrication, and Performance Characterization

CubeSat Lunar Positioning System Enabled by Novel On-Board Electric Propulsion

Performance Mapping and Qualification of the IFM Nano Thruster FM for in Orbit Demonstration

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