R&D, Walkthroughs, Updates, and System Builds
After several months of intensive research and brainstorming, I am ready to reveal the first official Applied Ion Systems ionic liquid electrospray thruster concept design for PocketQubes – the AIS-ILIS1! This is an exciting and major advance forward for the … Continued
After the major setback of the recent failed testing of the AIS-gPPT3-1C V4 thruster, I needed to evaluate the data, and make some tough decisions on which direction to move. Here, I will present an overview regarding the state of … Continued
In my prior blog posts, I shared updates regarding the new and much anticipated V4 design of the AIS-gPPT3-1C Pulsed Plasma Thruster module for PocketQubes. With the thruster assembled, checked, and mounted into the chamber, testing was ready to go … Continued
Finally, after a long anticipated wait, the completed AIS-gPPT3-1C V4 pulsed plasma thruster module assembly is complete! The boards arrived just a few days ago, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about the new OshPark After Dark boards. They are … Continued
Just a quick update regarding the new V4 design of the AIS-gPPT3-1C pulsed plasma thruster. The new V4 board design is complete and submitted to OshPark for manufacture! This board includes some major rework from the previous version. The circuit … Continued
Earlier this month, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the Open Source Cubesat Workshop 2019 in Athens, Greece. Over 200 participants representing over 30 countries from around the world gathered to share knowledge, experience, and passion in the … Continued
Finally, after a quite rapid and fairly successful prototyping, development, and testing phase, I am proud to share the first two actual prototype flight modules of the AIS-gPPT3-1C Integrated Propulsion Module for PocketQubes to be flown in orbit on the … Continued
Well, I have finally made the jump from live tweeting my propulsion tests on Twitter to actually live-streaming on Youtube! I have been looking to do this for a while now to give enthusiasts more direct and immediate access to … Continued
If you have been following my recent progress with the AIS-gPPT3-1C Propulsion Module, you will have seen that during the recent impulse-bit test, at shot #130 for the thruster, the thruster stopped working. Taking it out of the vacuum chamber … Continued
This has got to be potentially the biggest and most exciting news yet to come out of Applied Ion Systems. I will officially be partnering with Fossa Systems, lead by Julian Fernandez, on a joint partnership collaboration project for an … Continued