Achievements and status:
•Review of the State of Art of probes for Plasma Thrusters.
•Definition of probes requirements.
•Design and fabrication of several RFCLP, a couple of FC and an RPA.
•Integration and assembly of the probes at UC3M premises using different UC3M-SENER owned HPTs prototypes.
•Validation (by test) of the probes: RFCLP and FC pairs comparison, and RPA-LIF validation.
•Post-processing tool for results processing and interpretation.
Benefits:

TAS-B has high heritage on PPU for HET ranging from 1,35 kW up to 4,5 kW. In the frame another project, TAS-B  develops New Space PPU modules to drive thrusters in the same power range, for platforms with 100 V regulated power bus. In the frame of the project “BBK for Low Power PPU”, TAS-B addresses the low range of the New Space market: smaller thrusters for smaller platforms with lower unregulated bus.

The original Ball Latch Valve was developed between 2004 and 2007, based on a Swagelok design, and between 2008 an

The main objectives of this project were to develop a thruster prototype based on magnetic powder electrostatic propulsion and to test it in vacuum with direct thrust measurements. The aim was to check the robustness of the concept and to measure and calculate important performance parameters such as thrust and specific impulse, to allow a comparison with other thruster technologies. This project demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of electrostatic propulsion based on powder emission.

• A vacuum test cell sized for larger engines (at least 1.5kN but projected up to 6kN).
• A vacuum diffuser as part of the pumping and exhaust system sized for at least 1.5 kN

CubeSats market is growing, and its pace is foreseen to continue steadily. Propulsion systems, when used, are usually Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT) that are characterized by low efficiency and low specific impulse. In this activity, a hybrid design of a PPT and a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) device was de-risked to ensure that higher specific impulses were reachable through the occurrence of the so called ‘magnetic pinch effect’.

The E.Inspector mission objectives are to:* Image an ESA owned space debris in its current status * Use obtained images for the verification and validation of the e.deorbit or space tug GNC sensorsFollowing a successful ESA internal CDF study, the mission is now proposed to go to phase A to be studied by industry.Several drivers make this mission design challenging:* A possible long and large (delta-V) transfer to the target* Compliance to Space Debris Mitigation guidelines from possibly high altitude* A close RDV while maintaining keep-out zones and ensuring passively safe trajectories* Tr