Hey F.G. Micro Newton Thruster Development: Direct Thrust Measurements and Thruster Downscaling

Springer, 2018. — 181 p. — ISBN 978-3-658-21208-7.Franz Georg Hey summarises the development and testing of a micro-Newton thrust balance, as well as the downscaling of a High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster to micro-Newton thrust levels. The balance is tailored to fully characterise thruster candidates for the space based gravitational wave detector LISA. Thus, thrust noise measurements in sub-micro-Newton regime can be performed in the overall LISA bandwidth. The downscaled thruster can be operated down to serval tens of micro-Newton with a comparably high specific impulse.Electric Propulsion Fundamentals
Micro-Newton Thruster Test Facility
Micro High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster Development
Conclusion and Outlook