An experimental colloid thruster package for nano satellites

The advent of Micro and Nano satellites coupled with the maturity of micro fabrication technology has lead to a reappraisal of the potential for colloid thrusters. When produced as micro fabricated arrays, colloid thruster emitter heads enable new mission opportunities to be explored. We outline here the implications and system advantages of using micro fabricated colloid thrusters to implement a project in which a nano satellite co-flies with a micro satellite. We show that the mass of the propulsion elements of the selected mission, which has been previously demonstrated using cold gas thruster, could be reduced by about a factor 2 using colloids.