Digital Micro-Thruster Chip
Digital Propulsion micro-Thruster chip, after firing
in a vacuum.
This image shows the central 3x5 array of thrusters,
surrounded by 4 alignment holes.
The center-to-center distance between the thrusters is 1mm.
Of the 15 thrusters, 12 fired successfully, and 3 did not fire
(apparently, due to corona discharge effects in the firing circuitry).
The 3 unfired thrusters are clearly visible:
the brightly reflective intact burst diaphragms in
the 1st, 3rd and 4th thrusters from the right
in the top row of the 3x5 array.
The remnants of the ruptured diaphragms can be seen in the
12 fired thrusters.
Copyright © California Institute of Technology, 1998, 1999, 2000
Last Updated
Fri Apr 9 17:03:38 PDT 1999
