Simple model of multi-scale and multi-site emissions for porous ionic liquid electrospray thrusters

Abstract

Ionic liquid electrospray thrusters represent an alternative propulsion method for spacecraft to conventional plasma propulsion because they do not require plasma generation, which significantly increases the thrust efficiency. The porous emitter thruster has the advantages of simple propellant feeding and multi-site emissions, which miniaturize the thruster size and increase thrust. However, the multi-scale nature, that is, nano- to micrometer-sized menisci on the millimeter-size porous needle tip, makes modeling multi-site emissions difficult, and direct observation is also challenging. This paper proposes a simple model for multi-site emissions, which assumes that the ionic conductivity or ion transport in the porous media determines the ion-emission current. The conductivity was evaluated by comparing the experimental and numerical data based on the model. The results suggest that the ionic conductivity of the porous emitter is suppressed by the ion–pore wall friction stress. Additionally, the model indicates that the emission area expansion on the porous emitter creates the unique curve shape of the current vs voltage characteristics for multi-site emissions.