Characterization of a 10 W class electrospray array thruster

A porous conical type electrospray array thruster consisting of 6102 individual emitters is operated at up to 13.3 W power. The design and manufacture of the thruster are described, including its porous glass emitter chip and metallized ceramic extractor chip. A precision mass balance mounted inside a bell jar is used to directly measure the thrust, specific impulse, and efficiency in negative polarity, from $$ N, $$ s, and $$ % at $$ V and 0.38 W to $$ N, $$ s, and $$ % at $$ V and 1.7 W. Additional negative polarity experiments in a 2 meter vacuum facility demonstrate powers from order 1 $$ W to over 10 W, spanning 7 orders of magnitude. Power and performance measurements were not repeated for positive mode operation, as this was found to induce arcing between the emitter and extractor electrodes at 1400 V and above. The drop in efficiency from $$ V to $$ V operation in the bell jar is discussed within the context of facility effects, and secondary charged particle flux to the thruster is identified as a likely contributor. Finally, the performance of the thruster is considered relative to scaling electrospray systems to higher power robustly.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44205-025-00114-4.