Ionic Liquid Electrospray Thruster with Two-Stage Electrodes On Glass Substrate

This paper reports ion emission of an ionic liquid electrospray thrustor with two-stage electrodes made on glass substrate having through hole for low-cost micro/nano satellites. By using the two-stage electrodes, one for ion extraction and the other for acceleration, high and stable ion emission and propulsion force is obtained. The emitter array was fabricated on a silicon wafer and the electrodes were fabricated on both sides of a glass substrate. The ion emission test was conducted, and the emission current was observed successfully. Almost no ions were collected on the accelerator electrode and reached to the collector electrode, which demonstrates the advantage of the two-stage configuration.