Growth And Study Of Nanocarbon Based Vacuum Nanoelectronic Emitters For NanoSatellite Propulsion

Abstract

The small satellites benefits have already been established and so the market is newlineexpanding rapidly. However to enhance the benefits in terms of extended life and further newlineoptimization of the cost of the satellite, there is an urgent need for development of compact, newlineenergy efficient, remotely controllable communication capability and appropriate type of fuel newlinebased propulsion system. Electric Propulsion (EP) has emerged as relatively a key form of newlineadvanced propulsion and it is rapidly becoming the standard choice, because of its very high newlinemass efficiency. Typically there are multiple ways of propulsion that can be adopted including newlineHall thrusters, Ion thrusters, chemical propulsion, and Field Emission Electrical Propulsion newline(FEEP) [10-20]. This research work is focused on development of indigenous capability of the newlinevarious subsystems and demonstrate the feasibility of these sub systems for development of Field emission based electrical propulsion for Nano satellite. A FEEP system is considered due its capability to enable high performance as drag free system for low thrust in the µN range, newlinethus consuming less propellant and thus enabling further optimization of the weight and size. newlineThe study is therefore focused on first understanding the growth and characterization newlineof nanocarbons using cathodic arc, as this is again a unique process not well studied for newlineelectronic use of carbon films. Further it offers the scope to control the material from diamond newlinelike to graphite like and also have mixed phase material, help create nanoclusters to nanotubes, newlinefibres and even graphene like material. More importantly it is a process which can be scaled newlineup for large scale and large area production. Hence an effort has been made to especially newlinedevelop even an indigenous process equipment, and characterisation equipment s so that the newlinestudy could be effectively carried out. This also provides the scope for future scaling up of the griuprocess for product development and also affordable duplication.