Mini area thruster that runs on water

This tiny fingernail-length area thruster chip runs on the greenest propellant of all: water.

Designed to manoeuvre the smallest lessons of satellite tv for pc, the operation of this Iridium Catalysed Electrolysis CubeSat Thruster (ICE-Cube Thruster) developed with Imperial College within the UK relies on electrolysis.

Avoiding any want for cumbersome gaseous propellant storage, an related electrolyser runs a 20-watt present by water to supply hydrogen and oxygen to propel the thruster.

The ICE-Dice Thruster is so small in scale – with its combustion chamber and nozzle measuring lower than 1mm in size – that it might solely be assembled utilizing a MEMS (Micro-Electrical Mechanical Programs) method, borrowing strategies from the microelectronics sector.

A take a look at marketing campaign achieved 1.25 millinewtons of thrust at a particular impulse of 185 seconds on a sustained foundation. Testing came about by an ESA Common Assist Know-how Programme De-Threat exercise, to show the thruster’s feasibility in a laboratory testing.

The experimental knowledge gathered throughout this exercise will assist information growth of a flight-representative ‘Engineering Mannequin’ of the propulsion system, together with the electrolyser.