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Highly miniaturized FEEP propulsion system (NanoFEEP) for attitude and

orbit control of CubeSats

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DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.01.012

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 Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Acta Astronautica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

Highly miniaturized FEEP propulsion system (NanoFEEP) for attitude and

orbit control of CubeSats
Daniel Bock *, Martin Tajmar
Technische Universit€
at Dresden, Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Space Systems Chair, Marschner Str. 32, 01307, Dresden, Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A highly miniaturized Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) system is currently under development at TU
Electric propulsion Dresden, called NanoFEEP [1]. The highly miniaturized thruster heads are very compact and have a volume of less
Small satellites/CubeSats than 3 cm3 and a weight of less than 6 g each. One thruster is able to generate continuous thrust of up to 8 μN with
Formation flying short term peaks of up to 22 μN. The very compact design and low power consumption (heating power demand
Attitude and orbit control between 50 and 150 mW) are achieved by using Gallium as metal propellant with its low melting point of
Carbon nano tubes
approximately 30
C. This makes it possible to implement an electric propulsion system consisting of four thruster
heads, two neutralizers and the necessary electronics on a 1U CubeSat with its strong limitation in space, weight
and available power. Even formation flying of 1U CubeSats using an electric propulsion system is possible with
this system, which is shown by the example of a currently planned cooperation project between Wuerzburg
University, Zentrum fuer Telematik and TU Dresden. It is planned to use the NanoFEEP electric propulsion system
on the UWE (University Wuerzburg Experimental) 1U CubeSat platform [2] to demonstrate orbit and two axis
attitude control with our electric propulsion system NanoFEEP. We present the latest performance characteristics
of the NanoFEEP thrusters and the highly miniaturized electronics. Additionally, the concept and the current
status of a novel cold neutralizer chip using Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) is presented.

1. Introduction propulsion systems are mandatory to achieve formation flights of

More and more small satellites, like CubeSats [3], are launched these
days as they become more attractive not only for universities and
research institutes to test and qualify new space technologies and give
on-hands experience to students or researchers but also for commercial
companies to enable new space applications. Though, the fields of
application of CubeSats are still quite limited. One reason for that is the
strong limitation in volume, weight and power available on a CubeSat
which makes it difficult to implement larger payloads and consequently
to enable more complex applications.
One way to render it possible to enhance the spectrum of applications
on a CubeSat may be the approach of distributed networks of CubeSats.
Several CubeSats could be used in a network to accomplish the same
mission objectives, like for example the interferometrical use of data of
each CubeSat. To enable such autonomous networks, constellations or
even formations (actively controlled distances) of satellites will be
needed. To build such a formation of satellites, very precise attitude and
orbit control systems are necessary.
Besides attitude and orbit determination, a precise and efficient
CubeSats.
Facing the challenges of operating a propulsion system on a CubeSat
with its very limited budget in power and volume, we are currently
developing a highly miniaturized electric propulsion system, consisting
of thrusters, neutralizer and electronics, called NanoFEEP. All the com-
ponents of this propulsion system will be introduced in this paper and the
current status of development will be presented.
For the first demonstration mission of the NanoFEEP propulsion
system, a cooperation project between TU Dresden and the University
Wuerzburg is planned. The NanoFEEP propulsion system will be inte-
grated in the highly reliable and modularly designed 1U CubeSat UWE
(University Wuerzburg Experimental) platform developed by the Uni-
versity Wuerzburg [2]. Two axes attitude control and orbit control will be
demonstrated in the planned mission using four NanoFEEP thrusters,
integrated in the mandatory CubeSat bars.
1.1. Working principle of FEEP
The technology of Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) thrusters

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: daniel.bock@tu-dresden.de (D. Bock), martin.tajmar@tu-dresden.de (M. Tajmar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.01.012
Received 27 February 2017; Received in revised form 14 October 2017; Accepted 5 January 2018
Available online 9 January 2018
0094-5765/© 2018 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Bock, M. Tajmar
in general is based on the field emission effect. The working principle of a
FEEP thruster using very sharp needles is illustrated in Fig. 1.
By applying a high electric potential of several kilovolts between a
sharp needle tip which is wetted with the liquid metal propellant and a
ring shaped extractor electrode, an ion beam is formed. Due to the
interplay of the surface tension of the metal propellant and the applied
electrostatic force, a so called Taylor Cone forms on top of the needle tip.
If the electric field strength on the jet of the Taylor Cone reaches the field
evaporation strength of the metal propellant in the order of 1010 V/m, the
metal propellant is evaporated, ionized and accelerated in the very same
electric field. The emitting metal ions exit the thruster through the
extractor aperture with velocities of up to 100 km/s. This and the fact
that the ionization rate especially at lower emitting currents and thus
lower thrusts is high, make it possible to reach a very high specific im-
pulse of up to 6000 s [1].
1.2. NanoFEEP propulsion system
The NanoFEEP propulsion system consists of the actual NanoFEEP
thruster heads (see section 2), the neutralizer chips to control the
spacecraft floating potential (see section 3) and the power processing unit
(HV PPU, section 4) which controls thrust and provides high voltage
power to the thrusters and the neutralizer.
The first in orbit demonstration is planned on the 1U UWE (University
Wuerzburg Experimental) CubeSat platform developed by the University
Wuerzburg to demonstrate two axes attitude and orbit control. In this
planned demonstration mission four NanoFEEP thrusters will be inte-
grated in the four obligatory CubeSat rails [3], like shown in Fig. 2. The
four NanoFEEP thrusters and up to two neutralizer chips will be powered
and controlled by two very compact CubeSat boards. The two boards will
require a space of only 90  87  20 mm3 inside the CubeSat.
Besides this demonstration mission on the UWE CubeSat, another
mission on a 3U CubeSat, SNUSAT-2 from the Seoul National University,
is planned. In this mission two thrusters, one neutralizer and one HV PPU
board will be integrated in the CubeSat to demonstrate a deorbiting
maneuver after operation phase. This mission will demonstrate the ca-
pabilities of the NanoFEEP propulsion system as a deorbiting device to
actively control the lifetime of a CubeSat and to fulfill international
regulations for opposing the increase of space debris.
Fig. 1. Basic principle of Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP), needle
type [4].
423
Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428
Fig. 2. Operation scenario of NanoFEEP propulsion system for attitude and
orbit control of a 1U CubeSat, using the example of the UWE CubeSat plat-
form [5].
2. NanoFEEP thruster heads
The NanoFEEP thrusters are designed to face the strongly limited
volume, weight and power available on a 1U CubeSat. Therefore, the
main objective of the thruster design is power efficiency, the optimum
use of space and the aim to achieve a light-weight propulsion system. The
design of the thruster, performance data and a possibility of a space-
saving mechanical integration using the example of the UWE CubeSat
mission will be presented in the following subsections.
2.1. Design of thruster heads
To achieve a highly efficient and stable ionization of the propellant,
the NanoFEEP thrusters use our novel porous Liquid Metal Ion Sources
(LMIS) [6]. This LMIS consists of a very sharp porous tungsten needle
with an open porosity wetted with the metal propellant (see Fig. 3) and a
reservoir filled with the propellant. Due to capillary action of the open
porosity of the tungsten needle, the propellant is hold on the needle and a
self-feeding propellant flow from the reservoir to the needle tip is pro-
vided. With this passive propellant feeding no valves or propellant
feeding devices are necessary.
In order to reduce the power demand for liquefying the metal pro-
pellant, the metal gallium with its low melting temperature of approxi-
mately 30
C is used as propellant in the NanoFEEP thrusters. The use of
other metal propellants like e.g. Indium with a melting temperature of
157
C would lead to a much higher heating power demand and would
consequently be not feasible for a FEEP propulsion system on a 1U
CubeSat with its strong power limitations.
Besides the choice of the propellant material to reduce the heating
power demand, the design of the NanoFEEP thruster itself is optimized
Fig. 3. SEM image of a porous tungsten needle wetted with the metal pro-
pellant Gallium [1].
D. Bock, M. Tajmar Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428

w.r.t. thermal losses. The thermally optimized shape of the thermal and
electrical insulation structure provides labyrinth shielding as well, as you
can see in the cut away view of a CAD model of our first prototype, shown
in Fig. 4. The labyrinth shielding enables long term operation as it avoids
short circuits caused by possible contaminations of the inner structure
with the conductive metal propellant during long-term operation.
The lifetime (calculated by using results of performed mass efficiency
measurements) of one NanoFEEP thruster of around 1800 h for contin-
uous operation at low thrust (1–2 μN) and around 400 h for higher
thrusts (8 μN) is only limited by the reservoir size and consequently by
the amount of propellant stored in one thruster. However, the size of the
reservoir can be easily increased to extend the thruster's lifetime.
The here presented design of the NanoFEEP thrusters results in a
highly miniaturized and compact thruster module which has a diameter
of only 13 mm (including housing) and a length of 21 mm. The total
weight of one thruster head is less than 6 g. To illustrate the small size of Fig. 5. Manufactured first prototype of NanoFEEP thruster compared to a 1
the highly miniaturized thruster heads, a picture of one of the first € coin.
manufactured NanoFEEP prototypes compared to a 1 Euro coin is shown
in Fig. 5.
A second generation design of the NanoFEEP thrusters was recently
finished and has currently been manufactured. The new design keeps the
same dimensions and performance as the first prototypes presented here,
but it is even more modular. This makes it possible to exchange any part
very easily and the manufacturing process is simplified as well. More-
over, the electrical interface and the ability of integration in a CubeSat
are improved in the new version.

2.2. Thruster performance

Several operation tests (see Fig. 6) and performance tests of different

NanoFEEP thruster prototypes have been performed so far. In these tests
the current-voltage characteristics and the ionization mass efficiency of
the LMIS were measured. The mass efficiency was determined by
comparing the measured weight difference of the LMIS at constant cur-
Fig. 6. Operating NanoFEEP thruster.
rent levels with the total emitted current (considering current losses on
the extractor). This method for determining mass efficiency represents
the direct proportion of the ionized metal atoms emitted during the tests. NanoFEEP thrusters depends on the emitted current and lies between
With the measured mass efficiency, the specific impulse was calcu- 40% at higher thrusts (8 μN) and 90% at low thrust (2 μN).
lated as a function of thrust. For determining the generated thrust, our Fig. 7 shows an exemplary current-voltage characteristic (begin of
analytical thrust model was used which shows very good agreement with life) of one of the tested NanoFEEP thruster prototypes. The starting
recently performed thrust measurements with the force probe of Kiel voltage is typically between 3.3 and 5 kV. With advancing operation
University [7]. It was shown in Ref. [1] that the specific impulse de- time, the starting voltage increases while the impedance (the slope of the
creases exponential with higher thrust levels starting approximately at
6000 s, but never drops below 1000 s over the whole thrust range. The
Thrust [μN]
total efficiency (considering mass efficiency and beam divergence) of the
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
7000

6500
Emitter Voltage [V]

6000

5500

5000

4500

4000

3500

3000
0 50 100 150 200 250
Emitter Current [μA]

Fig. 7. Current-voltage characteristic of a NanoFEEP thruster with calculated

Fig. 4. Cut away view of first NanoFEEP thruster prototype. thrust equivalent.

424
D. Bock, M. Tajmar
characteristic) decreases. This typical behaviour of FEEP thrusters is
considered and can be compensated by our generous margin of the
maximum output voltage of 12 kV in our HV PPU (see section 4).
Additionally, in Fig. 7 it can be seen that the current-voltage char-
acteristic is almost linear. The NanoFEEP thrusters can be operated
continuously over the whole thrust range of 0–22 μN (equivalent to
0–250 μA).
For long-term operation (several hundred hours), a maximum emit-
ting current of 100 μA is recommended, which is equivalent to a thrust of
approximately 8 μN. The reason for this safety limit is to avoid needle
erosion and consequently a further increase of the starting voltage.
With assuming a 1U CubeSat being capable of providing about 1 W of
power to the propulsion system, we are able to operate four thrusters
simultaneously with a thrust of 2–3 μN per thruster considering power
conversion efficiency of the PPU (65–70%), the power for the neutralizer
and the heating power (assuming an environmental temperature of more
than 10
C).
Moreover, a test campaign is planned in the near future to further
investigate the new thruster version (mentioned in section 2.1) by per-
forming long-term operation tests, beam diagnostic tests and the direct
measurement of the generate thrust.
2.3. Thruster integration into 1U CubeSat
One possibility of integrating the NanoFEEP thrusters in a CubeSat is
illustrated in Fig. 8. The thrusters are accommodated in the mandatory
CubeSat bars of the UWE CubeSat platform. With this approach, the
thrusters will not interfere with any electronics boards inside the UWE
satellite and the bars are not only limited to structural purposes anymore,
but will now also act as a part of the thruster's housing. Thermal and
mechanical simulations showed, that this integration solution will
withstand the expected loads during launch [8].
3. CNT-neutralizer chip development
To prevent uncontrolled divergent spacecraft charging due to the use
of the NanoFEEP thrusters, we are developing a cold highly efficient
electron source, which will emit the same amount of electrons as ions are
emitted by the thrusters. This electron source is called neutralizer in the
following.
Besides the neutralizer development, TU Dresden is also currently
investigating the spacecraft charging behavior of a CubeSat with Nano-
FEEP thrusters without a neutralizer. This investigation will allow us to
determine the limits of the propulsion system if the neutralizer is failing
or if we may even dispense with a neutralizer under specific
circumstances.
3.1. Spacecraft charging of 1U-CubeSat in LEO
In low earth orbit a spacecraft has a high orbital velocity of about
Fig. 8. NanoFEEP thruster integration in the UWE CubeSat bar [5].
425
Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428
7.5 km/s and it is surrounded by a quite dense ambient plasma of the
ionosphere. The thermal velocity of the electrons in LEO is approx.
300 km/s and of ions it is only approx. 1 km/s. Due to these different
velocities of the electrons and the ions w.r.t the spacecraft's velocity,
electrons are collected all over the whole satellite's surface, but ions are
only partially collected (see Fig. 9). This means that the electron current
(Ie) from the ambient plasma is higher than the ion current (Iion,atmo).
This leads to a slightly negative but stable floating potential of the sat-
ellite of a few Volts.
If an electric propulsion system like NanoFEEP is emitting an ion
current (Iion,NF), the floating potential is getting more and more
negative. This is leading to a repulsion of electrons and to an attraction
of ions from the ambient plasma which can cause a passive stabiliza-
tion of the floating potential. This effect and the growing surrounding
potential sheath which increases the interacting surface of the space-
craft and thus the total ion current may make it possible to emit ions
by an electric propulsion system even if a neutralizer is missing
without reaching an unstable diverging state of the floating potential.
However, this way of passive charging control is only possible at low
ion emitting currents.
First results obtained by spacecraft charging simulations using the
open software SPIS from ESA performed by TU Dresden showed, that the
ion emission current limit for the passive stabilization of the floating
potential (i.e. Ie,NZ ¼ 0) is in the range of NanoFEEP's low thrust levels
(i.e. several μA of thruster emitting current) [9]. This means that a
neutralizer may not be necessary at very low thrust levels.
Further investigations of the spacecraft charging behaviour are
currently carried out at TU Dresden. Nevertheless, a neutralizer will be
used in all planned missions to assure safe operation in orbit and to avoid
electrostatic discharge events which may damage or disrupt subsystems
of the satellites.
3.2. Design and working principle of CNT neutralizer
Apart from discussing the necessity of a neutralizer at low thrust
levels, a neutralizer will be mandatory, if the NanoFEEP thruster will be
used over the whole thrust range (0–22 μN), especially if several thrusters
operate simultaneously.
As common neutralizers, like hollow cathodes, would be over-
dimensioned w.r.t. the emitting electron current, size and mass and as
smaller neutralizer technologies like thermionic cathodes need much
power, we decided to develop a new kind of electron source to face the
power, weight and volume limitation of CubeSats.
The electron source which is currently under development is based on
the field emission effect as well. A scheme of the working principle can be
found in Fig. 10.
Analogous to the working principle of the NanoFEEP thruster,
described above, a high electric potential is applied between an emitter
(silicon chip) and an extractor electrode (grid), but with an opposite
polarity. Instead of using metallic needles wetted with propellant like in
Fig. 9. Illustration of CubeSat charging behaviour in low earth orbit using
NanoFEEP thrusters and a neutralizer.
D. Bock, M. Tajmar Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428

Fig. 10. Working principle of CNT neutralizer chip.

FEEP thruster, the neutralizer uses a silicon chip with deposed Carbon
Nano Tubes (CNTs), see Fig. 11.
The CNTs act as the field enhancing component in this design and due
to their high aspect ratio and small diameter, the starting voltage of the
neutralizer (several hundred volts) is much lower than of FEEP thrusters Fig. 11. SEM image of Carbon Nano Tubes deposition on a silicon chip [10].
(kilovolts).
Additionally, neither any propellant nor heating is needed in this
concept. To run this cold electron source, it is only necessary to apply a
negative high dc voltage between the silicon chip and the grid.
The proof of concept was carried out before (see Ref. [10]) and the
current design of our neutralizer chip (see Fig. 12) is currently in the
manufacturing process. The chip has a cross section of 8  8 mm2 and a
height of approx. 2 mm and is designed to generate an electron emitting
current of 250 μA which is equal to the maximum emitting current of the
NanoFEEP thrusters. Thus, one chip could compensate the total emitting
Fig. 12. New design of the CNT neutralizer chip for controlling the spacecraft
current of one thruster over the whole thrust range. The targeted power
charging during thruster operation.
consumption of the neutralizer for the full thrust range is set below
400 mW.

4. High-voltage power processing unit (HV PPU)

Our first approach of using commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) high-

voltage (HV) power supplies was not satisfying, because of the large size,
weight and poor efficiency of such components [1].
That is why we decided to develop our own efficient highly minia-
turized and thus CubeSat compatible HV Power Processing Unit (PPU) in
cooperation with a local company (GBS Elektronik).
Our HV PPU provides high voltage to our NanoFEEP thruster heads
and the neutralizer and it supplies the thruster heads with the required
heating power. All high and low voltage power supplies are controlled by
a microcontroller on each PPU board. As physical and electrical interface
the UWE CubeSat standard interface is used defined by the Wuerzburg
University [11]. Fig. 13. Schematical illustration of new NanoFEEP high voltage PPU: Two
boards to supply and control four NanoFEEP thrusters and two CNT
neutralizers.
4.1. Design of HV PPU
4.2. First prototype tests of HV PPU
Like illustrated in Fig. 13, one of our HV PPU boards is capable of
supplying two NanoFEEP thrusters and one neutralizer chip. If more
One prototype of the mentioned HV PPU has been manufactured so
thrusters are planned to be use on a CubeSat, the quantity of boards can
far and first function tests have been carried out. The results of these first
be increased very easily. For example, in the planned demonstration
tests will be presented in the following.
mission on the UWE CubeSat platform, four thrusters will be used, and
The main objective of the first prototype tests of our PPU was to
therefore two HV boards are necessary. In this mission example the
determine functionality and compatibility with the NanoFEEP thruster.
boards will be spaced 20 mm apart from each other.
The HV PPU board was integrated in a 1U CubeSat testing mock-up
Each board provides two continuously controllable positive high
together with a commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) HV power supply
voltage power supplies (0 to þ12 kV) and one continuous negative high
(Spellman UM12P4). The two power supplies were connected to two
voltage power supply (0 to 3 kV). Each high voltage power supply on
different NanoFEEP thruster which were integrated in the corners of the
the board provides a maximum output current of 250 μA which is
CubeSat mock-up. With this approach, we were able to compare the
equivalent to the maximum thrust of the NanoFEEP thrusters, stated
performance of our PPU to the performance of a COTS power supply in a
before.
single test setup (see Fig. 15).
Besides the high voltage power supplies, two controllable heating
The mock-up accommodating the two high voltage supplies and the
power supplies and the necessary control electronics are accommodated
two thrusters were then tested in one of our vacuum testing facilities at
on the HV PPU boards. The high and low voltage components are strictly
TU Dresden, shown in Fig. 16. The thruster emission current was
physically separated from each other by placing them on the two
measured using a large ion beam collector (faraday cup).
different sides of the board, shown in Fig. 14.

426
D. Bock, M. Tajmar Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428

Fig. 14. First prototype of high voltage PPU board (front and
backside view), capable of supplying two NanoFEEP thrusters
and one neutralizer chip.

Fig. 15. Mock-up of a 1U-CubeSat accommodating two

NanoFEEP thrusters, one supplied by HV PPU board and one
supplied by COTS high voltage power supply.

100 100
Emitter Curr. [μA]

Coll.Curr. [μA]
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15

6000
Emitter Volt. [V]

5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Fig. 16. First vacuum tests of HV PPU board running a NanoFEEP thruster. 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15
Time [h]

The current and voltage evolution over time of the tests are shown in
the following two figures. Fig. 17 shows the emitter current and voltage
of the first NanoFEEP thruster supplied by the COTS power supply and
Fig. 18 shows the emitter current and voltage of the second thruster
supplied by our new HV PPU board.
Figs. 17 and 18 show that both power supplies worked properly,
stable and without any problems. The slight offset between the measured
collector current and emitter current is caused by a known problem in the
emitter current monitor signal of the HV PPU boards, which will be
solved in the next version of the PPU.
Moreover, our HV PPU board shows a larger ripple on the emitter
voltage than the COTS power supply. This was expected, because our
focus in development was efficiency and not voltage noise. This
Fig. 17. Current and voltage evolution over time of NanoFEEP-1 supplied by
COTS HV power supply (Spellman UM12P4).
measured voltage ripple would only cause a thrust noise of a few hundred
nano-Newtons, but it could be damped in future, if necessary.
5. Summary and outlook
We introduced the concepts and designs of the different components
of the NanoFEEP propulsion system, like the thruster heads, the CNT
neutralizer chip and the high voltage PPU board. Additionally, we pre-
sented first experimental data of the components.
Next steps in research and development will be:

427
D. Bock, M. Tajmar Acta Astronautica 144 (2018) 422–428

100 100 approval from German Parliament. Special thanks go to L. Martin-Perez

Emitter Curr. [μA]

80 80 and S. Mewis.

Coll.Curr. [μA]
Further thanks go to the Wuerzburg University and to the Seoul Na-
60 60
tional University for the great cooperation.
40 40
Moreover, we want to thank W. Pilz (TUD), T. Wilfinger (RHP-
20 20 Technologie GmbH), A. Gruner (LH Mittweida), M. Krug (Fraunhofer
0 0 IKTS), F.-G. Hey (Airbus D&S), J. Brutscher (GBS Elektronik) and M.
0.00 0.05 0.10
Siegel (TUD) and the company Teledyne Reynolds for their support.

5000 References
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