Sydney are collaborating on research to produce a marketable thruster from this technology. Brian Hawkett and Nirmesh Jain at the University of Sydney in Australia. A ferrofluid is composed of three components: magnetic nano particles, dispersion medium (also called carrier liquid) and a dispersant or surface active agent. Although ferrofluids are not a new technology, the development of a ferrofluid that has all of the properties required for use as a spacecraft propellant is new. When exposed to a magnetic field, the nanoparticles form regular. Michigan Tech has a pending patent for this ionic liquid ferrofluid propulsion technology. Ferrofluid is a colloidal liquid made of particles less than 10 nanometers in diameter. The result is a thruster composed of many small peaks – each producing a jet of ions – that assembles itself out of the propellant. At the tip of these peaks, the electric field is amplified and electrospray emission can be achieved. When these fluids are in the presence of a magnetic field, the fluid interface naturally deforms into a series of peaks and valleys, referred to as the Rosensweig instability. Ferrofluids are magnetic liquids that can be manipulated with the use of magnets. In 2012, members of the Ion Space Propulsion lab demonstrated a novel method of electrospray using ferrofluids. Traditionally, this method of propulsion requires a needle-like structure to generate the electric stresses needed to spray the fluid. This method of propulsion uses electrical energy to accelerate an atomized liquid propellant to produce thrust. One promising solution for micro-propulsion is called electrospray. Existing propulsion technologies, which are deployed on larger class satellites, cannot be scaled down in size while maintaining their performance. A ferrofluid is a colloidal suspension of single domain particles dispersed in a carrier liquid and stabilized by a suitable organic surfactant. You can not use this ferrofluid in mid-ranges or woofers - those require a ferrofluid with a different viscosity and other magnetic particles. One enabling technology for these satellites is a scalable and efficient method of maneuvering the tiny vehicles in space. Advances in satellite computational and communications systems have allowed smaller satellites to perform missions which could previously only have been accomplished with much larger and more expensive spacecraft.
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