Today marks the one year anniversary of Applied Ion Systems LLC! It has been one heck of a ride, with many advances and setbacks. Despite the challenges faced, I think AIS has further grown and established itself a bit more in the field. To celebrate its first year as an official LLC, I am unveiling a brand new, never before seen AIS thruster in the works. I am pleased to reveal a first look at the next gen and most advanced AIS thrusters yet, starting 2021: The AIS-ADAMANT Series, leveraging direct sublimation-fed solid Adamantane fuel!
The core of this design revolves around a highly experimental molecular fuel alternative for EP. Adamantane is a diamandoid hydrocarbon solid that exhibits similar low-temp sublimation like Iodine, except without the severe corrosive effects of the gas. ionization cross-section is also slightly higher, making it even easier to ionize. The cost however is that the resulting plasma and ion species formation is extremely complex, making it difficult to characterize. This will however be replacing my efforts with Iodine from the AIS-Io Series.
The design will utilize an ultra-modular, universal direct sublimation fuel delivery system to feed gas into the thruster, which will be designed to be adapted to any conventional gas-based plasma/ion thruster system. This design borrows the concepts from the AIS-Io Series, while further refining the execution. Features includes low-power ceramic heater and removable heated fuel cartridge. This will be used to support a wide range of EP developments, including gridded ion, RF plasma, Hall, etc.
This will be the most advanced/experimental development yet, but will hopefully usher in a new wave of AIS designs, covering many forms of EP, and ranging in power from 10W to >1kW. More details will follow as it develops, so stay tuned for the most exciting open source EP yet!
And of course I need to give a huge shout out to all the AIS supporters, contributors, and Patrons, who have kept this effort alive and moving forward this year. AIS would not be able to continue without your amazing support! Here is to another year of exciting open source electric propulsion developments!