A UK-Austrian consortium led by AVS UK in collaboration with the University of Southampton (UoS) and RHP
Technology is developing a low power porous electrospray propulsion system. Using as a baseline a thruster
previously developed at UoS, the updated system design focuses on achieving higher thrust using processes suitable
for high volume production. This is to meet the rapidly growing micro/nanosatellite market demand. Relying on
more than 10 years of expertise in electrospray propulsion, UoS is leading the experimental test campaign and is
assisting with thruster design. RHP Technology are creating the high-precision, high-volume manufacturing
processes for the emitter arrays and the porous reservoir. AVS UK is designing the propulsion unit and associated
High Voltage Power Processing Unit (HV-PPU) while also leading commercial exploitation. The two-year project
is centred on three main goals. The first is to develop a thruster with improved performance metrics that better
suit the new requirements of the micro/nanosatellite market. The second is to design an updated HV-PPU adapted
to operate alongside the improved thruster. The third is to move away from the use of CNC machining in favour
of sintering techniques for the manufacturing of the emitters. This paper describes the steps taken to achieve these
goals with a particular emphasis on the emitter manufacturing and testing. Our initial single emitter tests
demonstrate promising performance. A new single emitter demonstrated reasonably high emission current after
onset, with maximum values of around 35 μA at 3500 V reached. Assuming a 50 % monomer-dimer mix, the
estimated thrust and specific impulse are approximately ~3.50 μN and ~4600 s.