Blog

If you have been following my efforts on Twitter, you will have seen that there have been delays with qualification testing of the AIS-ILIS1 V1 electronics. UPS appeared to have misplaced the package, and I have been actively working with … Continued

This past Friday, March 13th I had the awesome opportunity to be a part of and contribute to the Open Source Hardware Summit 2020. Despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, the OSHA put together an amazing virtual conference, allowing … Continued

Before ignition testing of the AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thrusters for nanosatellites, the electronics driving and controlling the thruster need to be completely qualified. In order to prepare for this testing, and to verify that my electronics design is actually … Continued

It’s been a work in progress for a while, but I am pleased to finally release a look at the next generation AIS pulsed plasma thrusters: the AIS-ePPT series! These thrusters take lessons learned from the earlier gPPT prototypes with … Continued

Quick update on some new AIS swag! Brand new 3″ holographic AIS stickers are in from Sticker Mule! I ordered these a while ago when they were first released, which finally arrived. I’ve got to say, these came out absolutely … Continued

With the new AIS-ILIS1 V1 board soldered up, testing has officially begun on the ILIS1 thruster electronics. While I am still waiting on the -HV supply, there is plenty of work qualifying the +HV supply and general timing in the … Continued

After extensive analysis of data and trends for macro-ILIS thruster technology based on current literature, I believe I have established projected performance for the AIS-ILIS1. The following post will overview this performance projection based on research in macro-ILIS technology, and … Continued

Some major news has just been released regarding the upcoming AMSAT-Spain GENESIS mission! Both the GENESIS satellites, as well as the Applied Ion Systems AIS-gPPT3-1C pulsed plasma thrusters have successfully passed vibration testing! This was the one thing that worried … Continued

I was doing my usual research on electric propulsion the other day when I stumbled across a bit of a surprise. Turns out someone has already added AIS to the Nanosats Database under propulsion companies! AIS is actually right up … Continued

The V1 boards for the AIS-ILIS1 are in from OSHPark! I have all of the parts for the electronics except for the negative HV supply, so I will be soldering and performing preliminary switching measurements with the positive supply this … Continued