CubeSat constellation management using Ionic Liquid Electrospray Propulsion

Jenkins, Marco Gómez; Krejci, David; Lozano, Paulo

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.06.007

Cited by 29 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Various satellites in various earth orbits make up the spacebased infrastructure for daily travel, defense construction, weather forecasting, business intelligence and disaster recovery applications [1,2]. Small satellites are recommended for the building of the next-generation global internet due to specific impulse, precise thrust control, low acoustic noise, low power consumption, and reduced structural mass, making it ideal for small satellites [12][13][14][15]. Additionally, ILET generates bipolar particles and achieves self-neutralization of the plume by directly applying positive or negative high voltage to the emitter without external neutralizers [16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the plume self-neutralization of ionic liquid electrospray thruster based on median potential

Du,

Wu,

et al. 2024

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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Ionic liquid electrospray thruster (ILET) has the advantages of high specific impulse, precise thrust control, and low structural mass, which make it ideal for small satellites. The charged particles of ILET’s plume may lead to device charging or even damage, restricting its engineering applications. Thus, this paper examines the self-neutralization effectiveness of the ILET's plume under various emission conditions using particle-in-cell simulations. In order to accurately evaluate the self-neutralization effectiveness of the ILET’s plume, the median potential is explained in this paper and its reasonableness as the evaluation criterion for self-neutralization of the plume is verified. The working envelope for achieving self-neutralization of the ILET’s plume is determined by simulating the bipolar plume under various emission conditions. The results indicate that when the highest and lowest potentials are the same, the mean electric field strength between two points in space with a better degree of neutrality is 200% higher compared to points with a lesser degree of neutrality. The study determines the working envelope to realize self-neutralization of the ILET’s plume with an effectiveness of 70%. When the emission voltage of the anode thruster is fixed, the range of the cathode thruster’s voltage ranges from 108.36 V to 228.74 V. The asymmetry between the anode and cathode emissions of the ILET prototype significantly influences the operational range of the cathode thruster. Greater asymmetry leads to a narrower operating range for the ILET to achieve self-neutralization of the plume. This study serves as a guide for the ILET to achieve self-neutralization of the plume.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the plume self-neutralization of ionic liquid electrospray thruster based on median potential

Du,

Wu,

et al. 2024

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…This method was analyzed for a constellation of small satellites in low orbit in [ 13 ], where Crisp also considered the effect of atmospheric drag on total mission failure. This method of deploying a multi-plane satellite constellation using RAAN progression is also used in [ 14 ]. One satellite changes its semi-major axis while the other satellite maintains its semi-major axis using atmospheric drag compensation with electric thrusters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deployment of Constellation with Different Inclinations Using the Nodal Precession and Thrust

Zhao,

Zhu,

Tao

et al. 2024

Sensors

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Strategy selection is critical for constellation deployment missions, both in terms of energy consumption and time cost. The different effects of impulse thrust and continuous thrust on orbit elements lead to a different choice of strategy. With impulse thrust, constellation types are differentiated according to high and medium-low inclinations. Constellations with high inclination are deployed using a strategy that controls the inclination. Constellations with medium-low inclination are deployed using a strategy that controls the semi-long axis. With continuous thrust, constellations are classified according to high, medium, and low inclination. High inclination constellations are deployed with a strategy of controlling inclination. Medium inclination constellations are deployed with a strategy that controls the semi-long axis. Low inclination constellations are deployed with a strategy of directly applying continuous thrust.

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“…etched needles or micro-electromechanical system arrays) limits the emission beam output to an ion/droplet mixed mode or near the purely ionic mode, respectively (Lozano & Martinez-Sanchez 2002Ticknor, Miller & Chiu 2009;Ticknor et al 2010;Miller et al 2014). The significant body of work in the electrospray thruster community has ultimately led to the development and demonstration of electrospray thrusters in laboratory and on-orbit settings including Accion Systems' TILE (tiled ionic liquid electrospray) thruster (Krejci et al 2017;Gomez Jenkins, Krejci & Lozano 2018;Petro et al 2020) and Busek's CMNT (colloid micro-Newton thruster) (Gamero-Castaño et al 2003;Demmons et al 2008;Ziemer et al 2010). The NASA LISA (laser interferometer space antenna) mission has successfully demonstrated capillary emitters, via the CMNT system, in station-keeping operations to achieve negation of perturbations that would interfere with gravity wave detection (Demmons et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capillary ionic liquid electrospray: beam compositional analysis by orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Miller¹,

Ulibarri-Sanchez

Prince

et al. 2021

J. Fluid Mech.

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Orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry has been used to characterize the kinetic energy and charged species distributions from an in vacuo electrospray ion source for four different ionic liquids at volumetric flow rates between 0.3 and 3.3 nanolitres per second. In all cases, the mass spectra revealed charged species consisting of singly charged and multiply charged ions as well as two broad, unresolved droplet distributions occurring in the 104 to 106 atomic mass unit per charge range. The mean jet velocity and mean jet breakup potential were established from analysis of the energy profile of the high mass-to-charge droplets. At the jet breakup point, we find the energy loss and the jet diameter flow rate dependence of the electrospray beam to be similar to that determined by Gamero-Castaño (Phys. Fluids, vol. 20, 2008, 032103; Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 8, 2021, 013701) for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluromethylsulfonyl)imide at similar volumetric flow rates. Similar trends are observed for all four liquids over the flow regime. A jet instability analysis revealed that jet electrification and viscous effects drive the jet breakup from the case of an uncharged, inviscid jet; jet breakup occurs at droplet and jet radius ratios that deviate from 1.89. Using the analytically determined ratio and the beam profile, different species are modelled to reconstruct the mass spectra; primary droplets constitute only a fraction of the total species present. The populations of the species are discussed.

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CubeSat constellation management using Ionic Liquid Electrospray Propulsion

Cited by 29 publications

References 10 publications

Study on the plume self-neutralization of ionic liquid electrospray thruster based on median potential

Study on the plume self-neutralization of ionic liquid electrospray thruster based on median potential

Deployment of Constellation with Different Inclinations Using the Nodal Precession and Thrust

Capillary ionic liquid electrospray: beam compositional analysis by orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry

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