#microthruster

[spaceflight-insider]

NASA microthrusters succesfully used on ESA’s LISA Pathfinder

NASA microthrusters succesfully used on ESA’s LISA Pathfinder

Artist’s concept of the European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft Image Credit: ESA / JPL / NASA

What’s harder than moving a spacecraft around in space? Holding it perfectly still. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California has been testing the ST7-DRS (Space Technology 7 Disturbance Reduction System) on board the European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft. (more…)

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[thecultureddish]

microthruster propulsion: like tree capillaries

MIT-developed 'microthrusters' could propel small satellites / 08.17.2012 / jennifer chu / MIT news office

To explain how the [MIT-developed rocket micro]thruster works, [designer and MIT associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics Paulo] Lozano invokes the analogy of a tree: Water from the ground is pulled up a tree through a succession of smaller and smaller pores, first in the roots, then up the trunk, and finally through the leaves, where sunshine evaporates the water as gas. Lozano’s microthruster works by a similar capillary action: Each layer of metal contains smaller and smaller pores, which passively suck the ionic liquid up through the chip, to the tops of the metallic tips.