Development of ionic liquid electrospray thruster


We are developing thruster to be mounted on nanosatellite. Electrospray thruster gains thrust by exhausting ions, which are extracted from ionic liquid at the tip of needle-like emitters. To obtain larger thrust, it is necessary to make emitters high-density arrays using MEMS technology.

This is a collaborative research with Takao-Lab in Yokohama National University.

[Publication]

  • Nakagawa, et al., “Microfabricated Emitter Array for an Ionic Liquid Electrospray Thruster,” Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 56, No. 6S1, 2017, 06GN18. DOI: 10.7567/JJAP.56.06GN18