Blog

The new V6 boards for the AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thruster are in from OSHPark! Changes to this iteration include the addition of surge protection resistors between the relay outputs and emitter connection, as well as between the filter cap … Continued

Pushing forward on the AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thruster for PocketQubes, I am pleased to finally reveal the first concept model of the first ever AIS-ILIS ionic liquid electrospray cluster for Cubesats! This marks a new push into ultra-low cost, … Continued

In my previous post, I revealed a look at the new enhanced extractor design for the AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thruster. Continuing with the design overview, here is a look at field simulations for the extractor. This first set of … Continued

Here is a look at the new enhanced extractor design for the next AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thruster iteration. The slit width has been decreased significantly, while introducing a flare at the emitter corners to keep field enhancement higher across … Continued

Here is a first look at the new enhanced case design already in production for the AIS-ILIS1 electrospray thruster! Taking lessons from the recent ignition test and subsequent post-test thruster analysis, the case design needed major rework to minimize liquid … Continued

The new 3D printed Ultem 1010 cases for the next generation AIS-ePPT1 pulsed plasma thrusters are in! Spring fed Teflon, electrodes, and mounting integrated with the case greatly reduces manufacturing cost and assembly time, and the modular design allows swapping … Continued

I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to speak at Open Core Summit 2020 Digital this September, sharing my work and experiences with AIS developing open source electric propulsion, and as the only open source EP company … Continued

Here is a video demo of the new open source DIY electric propulsion kit in the works for the AIS-GPPT3-1C pulsed plasma thruster! Actual thruster test code is running on this current V2 board, run from an Arduino to control … Continued

The newest prototype AIS-gPPT3-1C DIY open source pulsed plasma thruster electric propulsion learning kit is soldered up with the V2 board for testing with the SLA printed thruster stack bolted on! I am working on recording some simple demo video … Continued

In a Part 3 of the ILIS1 ignition test review, I reviewed my findings from the captured video of the second ignition attempt of the AIS-ILIS1 ionic liquid electrospray thruster. In this final part, I will go over post test … Continued