The figure presents a concept of a bipolar miniature electrostatic ion thruster for maneuvering a small spacecraft. The ionization device in the proposed thruster would be a 0.1-micronthick dielectric membrane with metal electrodes on both sides. Small conical holes would be micromachined through the membrane and electrodes. An electric potential of the order of a volt applied between the membrane electrodes would give rise to an electric field of the order of several megavolts per meter in the submicron gap between the electrodes. An electric field of this magnitude would be sufficient to ionize all the molecules that enter the holes.

A Proposed Miniature Bipolar Electrostatic Ion Thruster would include anionization membrane. An electric potential between the membrane electrodeswould produce an electric field that would generate ions.
In a thruster based on this concept, one or more propellant gases would be introduced into such a membrane ionizer. Unlike in larger prior ion thrusters, all of the propellant molecules would be ionized. This thruster would be capable of bipolar operation. There would be two accelerator grids — one located forward and one located aft of the membrane ionizer. In one mode of operation, which one could denote the forward mode, positive ions leaving the ionizer on the backside would be accelerated to high momentum by an electric field between the ionizer and an accelerator grid. Electrons leaving the ionizer on the front side would be ejected into free space by a smaller accelerating field. The equality of the ion and electron currents would eliminate the need for an additional electron- or ion-emitting device to keep the spacecraft charge-neutral. In another mode of operation, which could denote the reverse mode, the polarities of the voltages applied to the accelerator grids and to the electrodes of the membrane ionizer would be the reverse of those of the forward mode. The reversal of electric fields would cause the ions and electrons to be ejected in the reverse of their forward-mode directions, thereby giving rise to thrust in the direction opposite that of the forward mode.

This work was done by Frank T. Hartley of Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.



This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
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Miniature Bipolar Electrostatic Ion Thruster

(reference NPO-21057) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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