This article investigates the variation with temperature of the thrusting properties and beam geometry of electrospray thrusters. The study is based on an experimental characterization using time of flight and a beam profilometer. In the emitter temperature range investigated (between 21C and 50C), the specific charge of the droplets and therefore the beam specific impulse increase with temperature at constant beam current, while the thrust decreases. This is due to the increase of the electrical conductivity with temperature, and the effect of this variable on the atomization. Surprisingly, despite the strong influence of the emitter temperature on the specific charge of the droplets, the geometry of the beams at constant beam current does not depend on the emitter temperature. These observations indicate that although the working temperature range typical of space missions may penalize the performance of an electrospray thruster, it will not cause thruster failure by impingement of the beam with extracting electodes.
NomenclatureI B = beam voltage I SP = specific impulse K = electrical conductivity L = length in the time-of-flight detector m = beam mass flow rate V ACC = acceleration voltage T = thrust T = temperature TOF = time-of-flight m q = specific charge v = particle velocity = propellant surface tension = thrusting efficiency = propellant density
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