...sort of.

My thruster is behaving in a rather temperamental way. Sometimes it arcs, sometimes it doesn't. I've been telling people that it's like black magic. Although, I've had a few ideas on improving it and it seems to be getting better.

The main issue is that it won't work in high vacuum, only at very low vacuum. I suspect that I don't have a high enough voltage to overcome the dielectric breakdown limit of vacuum (Thanks Trevor!) vapourised metal coming from the front end of the thruster (Eek, my supervisor will have to spend another wad of cash... bye bye $$$). I'm looking to bump it up to 1000 V (shocker!).

Anyhow, at least I'll finish off the year with a Bang before flying back home to Jozi. This is probably my last post for the year. I'll try get a camera next year so I can at least spruce this blog up with some kick-ass pics of my work and friends.

Festive season!