Fabrication of externally wetted emitter for ionic liquid electrospray thruster by low-speed wire cutting combined with electrochemical etching

The micro-newton thrust generated by an ionic liquid electrospray thruster (ILET) can be used for drag-free control, attitude precise control, networking, and formation flight of micro-nano-satellites or spacecraft. Fabrication of high-quality emitters is one of the key technologies for the application of ILETs. A new method for fabricating externally wetted emitters is presented in this article. This method uses low-speed wire cutting (LSWC)...