Characterizations of the Stable Operational Range and Thrust Control Features of a Colloid Thruster

The colloid thruster has good application prospects in the orbit change,deorbit and formation flight of the cubic satellite,especially in the no drag control task of space gravitational wave detection.Using the microneedle tube as the emitter of the colloid thruster,the flow of the working fluid can be actively controlled by adjusting the pressure,and the thrust control strategy with the flow and voltage as variables is realized.The Center for Gravitational Experiments of Huazhong University of Science and Technology is oriented to the needs of China’s gravitational wave detection missions,and is developing the micro-Newton-level colloid thruster,focusing on the thrust control characteristics of the micro-needle emitter type colloid thruster.In order to further study its working characteristics,this paper analyzes the stable operational range,voltage and flow rate control characteristics of the thruster prototype.Key performance parameters such as thrust range,thrust noise,thrust resolution and thrust change response time etc.were tested.The results show that the thrust range of the thruster is 0.5~8.5 μN,the thrust noise is less than 0.1 μN/Hz^0.5,the thrust resolution is about 0.04 μN when the 100 V voltage changes,and the thrust change response time is less than 10 ms when the thrust changes with voltage.