Research toward an Electrostatic Microparticle Thruster based on Contact Charging

This paper reports on our experiments aiming at an efficient technique for contact charging of microparticles, which could be applied for space propulsion. Photolithographically produced fine electrode structures create high electric field strengths at the particle surface when a conductive microparticle comes in contact with the high voltage electrode. Besides propulsion of space vehicles, terrestrial applications for surface treatment and as new particle source for hypervelocity experiments like simulation of micrometeorites appear possible.