Preliminary Study on Field Emitter Array Cathodes for Electrodymanic Tether Propulsion

A preliminary study on. field emitter array cathodes was conducted aiming at applying for electrodymanic tether (EDT) propulsion systems. The EDT propulsion systems are assumed to use for active removal systems of post-mission spacecraft, which would otherwise become space debris. A survey on field emit-ter array cathode technology was conducted, and it showed that carbon nanotube (CNT) emitters are suit-able to EDT application. Trial fabrications and evaluation tests of CNT emitters were conducted, which demonstrated a target emission current density of 10 ㎃/$\textrm{cm}^2$. It was found out that the most important technical issue for developing CNT emitters is to improve the performance against voltage breakdown between the emitter and the opposite electrode.