Electric propulsion research at the University of Southampton

The use of electric propulsion for near Earth and deep space missions has occurred due to long term research into understanding the physical phenomena occurring within various propulsion subsystems. This research has resulted in the development of hardware that is suited to a wide range of missions. The research undertaken at the University of Southampton in the fields of hollow cathodes, colloid thrusters and pulsed plasma thrusters will be reviewed and their application to small satellite and remote sensing missions discussed.