Nanopropulsion 
RSI Princeton Operations specializes in
development of new products in microtechnology and plasma physics.
Microtechnologies developed at RSI
Princeton Ops
include the MASS noise-cancelling microspeaker array, the EMP
fiber-optic pressure sensor for hypersonic flight, microscale magnetic
structures for actuators and charged particle optics, the MIRROR
micro-retroreflector array for marking and communications, electron
beam windows, and the M2-EMS compact energy-mass spectrograph for
charged particle detection in orbit as well as gas sensing on the
ground.
Plasma technologies at RSI Princeton Ops
include
the MET microwave electric thruster for spacecraft, a system for
microwave augmentation of supersonic combustors, a microwave plasma
aerodynamic control system, the MIRAGE ionosphere modification
system, the CMTX magnetized target fusion plasma source, and the
Rotational-Vibrational Spectral Analysis System for plasma
monitoring.
Clients have included the Air Force, NASA,
NIST,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the Naval Research
Laboratory, and Princeton University. The Princeton Operations have
involved a variety of collaborators, including the Aerospace
Corporation, Princeton University, Stanford University, and the Ohio
State University.
The facility includes 350 square feet of laboratory space with
microfabrication clean rooms, an optics lab, a main lab with vacuum
chambers for electric propulsion testing and plasma physics, and
stations for electronics and mechanical fabrication. Researchers
at the Princeton Operations have held guest staff positions at
Princeton University's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Princeton's facilities have been used for various projects, including
work at Princeton's Institute for the Science and Technology of
Materials (PRISM).
RSI Princeton Research has been has been
featured
in these recent magazine articles:
