Revolutionary propulsion for future spacecraft: Field emission thruster developments at TU Dresden towards their first flight application

The institute of aerospace engineering at TU Dresden is developing a highly miniaturized field emission electric propulsion (FEEP) system for Nano-satellites, called CubeSats. The presented propulsion system NanoFEEP is composed of the actual field emission thrusters and a carbon nanotubes silicon chip used as a cold electron source for neutralizing the electric charging behavior of the spacecraft. The NanoFEEP thrusters use Gallium as metal propellant and provide a continuous controllable thrust of up to 20 micro-newton. This thrust level is sufficient to control the attitude of the miniature CubeSat satellites and even perform orbit maneuvers. Two satellites missions will demonstrate these capabilities in the near future. One mission will show the feasibility of formation flying of CubeSats. The other mission will demonstrate the possibility of space debris avoidance with our propulsion system by deorbiting the satellite after mission completed.