There exists a critical need for innovative low power electric propulsion thrusters for stationkeeping and orbit maneuvering of small satellites. Highly desirable features are thrust-to-weight ratio, high specific impulse operation, environmental compatibility and lifetime We believe these requirements can be met by a nanosecond-pulse version of the millisecond-pulse mLPT which we earlier invented and developed. The nsmLPT will be driven by a new type of diode-pumped, repetitively-pulsed laser that we will design in this effort. The new microthruster will have dramatically different parameters in order to achieve performance improvements appropriate to DoD requirements. These will be: a) 6 orders of magnitude shorter laser pulse, b) being able to address metallic and other very low outgassing propellants, not just organics, c) being able to address them in reflective rather than transmissive incidence to avoid the complexity of transmissive target tape designs, d) being able to achieve very high specific impulse Isp with good thrust to power ratio Cm, and e) being able to "dial in" the combination of Isp and Cm desired over a significant range while f) retaining the good thrust to weight ratio of the current thruster design. The Phase I effort we propose here will assess the feasibility of the laser and microthruster designs for the nsmLPT. We believe this work will provide a clear design path to a novel, laser-driven, high specific impulse microthruster, to be built in Phase II
