Technologies
EDA's core experience and capabilities lie in the intersections of space technology, plasmas, and the electrodynamic interactions between plasmas and spacecraft, in propulsion, communications, and elsewhere.
Below are some examples of projects that EDA is currently working on, has worked on in the past, as well as ideas that have yet to be pursued. Contact us, and we'll be happy to discuss how we can apply our capabilities and expertise to your project.
- Cold Cathode Field Emission: a phase-II STTR is in progress for development of Boron Nitride emitter surfaces, MEMS gate structures, and vacuum and environmental testing of the resulting emitter systems. The emitter product will be targeted at small spacecraft propulsion and other applications.
- ReComm plasma communications: a phase-II SBIR is in progress for development of a system to allow communication through the plasma layer surrounding a re-entering or hypersonic vehicle.
- Recently Completed Two stage helicon hall thruster: a phase-I SBIR is in progress for development of a two stage thruster using a helicon ionization source coupled to a Hall effect acceleration stage to improve the efficiency of the classic Hall thruster design.
- Recently Completed Laser communications: a phase-I SBIR is in progress to study the impact of electric propulsion on laser communications systems, and develop a magnetic protection system to mitigate this impact.
Other technologies that EDA is pursuing include:
- hollow cathodes
- microwave thrusters
- MEMS nanoparticle thrusters
- scramjet technologies
- ion thrusters and more
Some examples of EDA capabilities include:
- vacuum chamber testing, plasma and neutral environments, ranging from very large high speed chambers, to small ultra-clean chambers
- LabVIEW™ automated experiment operation and instrumentation
- particle and plasma simulation and modeling
- MEMS development, microscopic analysis
Pictures above
Electron Emitter Testing, Hypersonic Flow Simulation, Plasma Control, UHV Test Chamber, Electrodynamic tether propulsion