Evince Diamond Cold Cathode

小卫星正在推动航天工业的一场革命，未来5年发射的卫星将比过去50年发射的卫星多数千颗。该行业的特点是敏捷快速周转卫星制造初创企业依靠模块化硬件来最大限度地减少设计，并将发射时间从50年缩短到2年。据估计，到2026年，小型卫星硬件产业的价值将达到100亿至156亿英镑，而在真正实现全球可访问互联网和有限资源可持续性的愿景的推动下，下游产业的价值将达到10倍。几乎所有的小卫星都是使用共享火箭发射的，需要助推器将它们送入最终轨道。离子推进器的效率是化学推进器的两倍，但它们存在可靠性问题。推进剂离子推进器排出的是正电荷，需要通过发射一束电子来补偿和平衡损失的电荷。如果没有中和器，卫星就会充电并停止运行。中和器是离子推进器中最弱的部件。目前的选择是基于热丝或微空心阴极，这两者都是脆弱的和能源/燃料密集型。我们有一个解决方案，通过将电子源完全嵌入合成金刚石衬底中，从而将其完全封装在人类已知的最热和化学稳定的材料之一中，从而完全克服这些限制。它可以在环境温度下工作，立即开启，性能比现有技术提高10倍。该项目将重点展示用于小卫星应用的中和器原型。小卫星社区使用的更快的采用周期也为大型卫星应用的加速采用提供了机会。我们也希望我们的技术能够激发创新，从而设计出更高效的离子推进器。

Small-Satellites (small-sats) are driving a revolution in the space industry that will see thousands more satellites launched in the next 5 years than have been launched in the previous 50. The industry is characterised by agile fast turnaround satellite manufactucturing start-ups relying on modular hardware to minimise design and speed time to launch from \>5 years to <2 years. It is estimated that by 2026 the small-sat hardware industry will be worth \>£15.6bn in turn enabling a downstream industry worth 10x that, driven by a vision of a truly globally accessible internet and sustainability of finite resources.Nearly all small-sats are launched using shared rockets and require booster thrusters to position them into their final orbits. Ion thrusters have been shown to be 2x more efficient than chemical thrusters however they have a reliability problem. The propellant ion thrusters expel is positively charged and needs to be neutralised by firing a beam of electrons to compensate and balance the charge lost. Without the neutraliser the satellite would charge up and cease operating.The neutraliser is the weakest component on an ion thruster. Current options are based on hot filament or micro-hollow cathodes, both of which are fragile and energy/fuel intensive.We have a solution that fully overcomes these limitations by embedding the electron source completely within a synthetic-diamond substrate, thereby completely encapsulating it in one of the most thermally and chemically stable matrials known to humankind. It is able operate at ambient temperatures, switches-on instantly and offers 10x better performance over the incumbent technology. This project will focus on demonstrating a prototype neutraliser for small-sat applications.The far more rapid adoption cycle used by the small-sat community opens up the opportunities for accelerated adoption in larger satellite applications as well. We also expect our technology to stimulate innovation that leading to the design of even more efficient ion thrusters.