Characterization of ion Cluster fragmentation in ionic liquid ion sources

Ion electrospray propulsion is a cutting-edge micropropulsion technology that could revolutionize the capabilities of microsatellites. Ion electrospray thrusters could also be used on large spacecraft for precision attitude control applications such as gravity wave detection and exoplanet imaging. Novel room temperature molten salts, called ionic liquids, are used as propellant, which are composed purely of positive and negative molecular ions. When exposed to strong electric fields, ions and metastable clusters of ions are evaporated from the bulk liquid surface. The free ions and ion clusters can be accelerated to high velocities, producing thrust at high specific impulse. The performance of ion electrospray thrusters is affected by the composition of the ion beam and the amount of ion clusters that break apart during the acceleration phase. To improve thruster performance, a better understanding of the fundamental physics of ion evaporation and cluster break-up is needed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Catherine Elizabeth.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Paulo C. Lozano.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122372

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122372