The use of FEEP systems for micronewton thrust level missions
Abstract
Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) research was carried out in Europe, under ESA sponsorship, with the aim of studying a thruster for station keeping and attitude control of small satellites. Very recently, all the FEEP activities have been re-oriented towards the development of a micronewton thrust level system. This radical change of perspective is the outcome of the increasing interest of the international scientific community in drag-free satellites for fundamental physics, geodesy and aeronomy experimentation. At very low thrust level, FEEP offers far higher performance than conventional cold gas thrusters. This paper presents the microthrust FEEP system concept and outlines the issues related to its adoption on a typical drag-free scientific spacecraft.
- Publication:
-
Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit
- Pub Date:
- June 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993jpmc.confX....A
- Keywords:
-
- Cold Gas;
- Electric Propulsion;
- Satellite Attitude Control;
- Stationkeeping;
- Thrust;
- Aeronomy;
- European Space Agency;
- Geodesy;
- Power Conditioning;
- Scientific Satellites;
- Telemetry;
- Spacecraft Propulsion and Power