Part 5 - University of Pisa
The University of Pisa is one of the oldest European Universities with a long-standing tradition in aeronautics and space.
The Aerospace Division of the Department of Industrial and Civil Engineering and the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI) are directly involved in this project. DICI and DCCI have collaborated for more than five years at the development of an iodine propellant management system for electric propulsion applications, through a past ESA Action.
As part of the goals in this project, DCCI and DICI will develop an iodine mass flow meter based on laser spectrophotometric techniques to perform instantaneous measurements of the iodine mass flow rate during the thruster operation. The process for measuring the mass flow rate is completely non-invasive and easily scalable, so it can be readily used to assess the mass flow rate of corrosive substances like iodine in a harsh environment, such as the one present within the test chamber of EP systems.