Field Emission Electric Propulsion
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Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) is an advanced electrostatic propulsion concept, a form of ion thruster, that uses liquid metal (usually either caesium or indium) as a propellant. A FEEP device consists of an emitter and an accelerator electrode. A potential difference on the order of 10 kV is applied between the two, which generates a strong electric field at the tip of the metal surface. The field extracts ions, which then are accelerated to high velocities, typically more than 100 km/s. A separate electron source is required to keep the spacecraft electrically neutral.
Due to its very low thrust (in the micro - milli newton range), FEEPs are primarily used for micro-radian, micro-Newton attitude control on spacecraft.
See also
- Spacecraft propulsion
- Ion thruster
- Electrostatic ion thrusters
- Hall effect thrusters
- Field Emission Electric Propulsion
- Pulsed inductive thruster
- Ion thruster
External links
- FEEP thrusters (http://hpcc.engin.umich.edu/CFD/research/NGPD/ElectricPropulsion/feep/) at the University of Michigan
- FEEP thrusters (http://www.islandone.org/APC/Electric/11.html) at islandone.org