NASA Future In-Space Operations: SmallSat Thrusters

NASA FISO Presentation: The Film Evaporation MEMS Tunable Water Microthruster Array
“Miniaturization of satellite systems provides potential for reduced launch and operations costs
– Small sats i.e. micro, pico, nanosats are emerging technologies.
– Cubesats (4 inches cube) are low cost alternative for some applications.
Propulsion systems resist miniaturization
– Viscous losses at small scale
– Low mass fraction due to power processing mass
– Excessive power demands for small sat applications”
Note: The audio file and presentation are available online and to download.