ElECtRosPRAY thrusters were first operated in space in 2015 as the technology demonstration of the Col-loid MicroNewton Thrusters (CMNTs), developed by Busek Co., Inc. and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the European Space Agency (ESA) Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission. 1, 2 The CMNTs demonstrated key mission capabilities such as micronewton thrust precision and low thrust-noise. Seven of the eight CMNTs operated in space for over 2,400 hours and a ground-based test ended after 3,400 hours without failure. The LISA mission requires nearly 40,000 hours of operational lifetime, and 60,000 hours for the extended mission, expected to launch in the 2030’s. 3 Therefore, understanding life-limiting mechanisms in electrospray thrusters is necessary to improve their viability for LISA and other future missions. The LISA Colloid Microthruster Technology (CMT) development plan, described by Ziemer et al., 4 is using lessons learned, trade studies, and physics-based modeling to predict the performance and lifetime of the LISA CMT and guide system design. As part of the CMT development plan, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Plasma & Space Propulsion Laboratory (PSPL) have undertaken a multi-faceted campaign to investigate CMT performance and life. 5, 6 The first iteration of the UCLA Electrospray Life Model (ELM), presented by Thuppul, Wright, and Wirz, 7, 8 was developed as a first step to probing lifetime of an electrospray thruster under conditions commensurate with the Space Technology 7 Disturbance Reduction System (ST7-DRS). 9 A simplified schematic of a single emitter from the ST7-DRS thruster head is shown in Fig. 1. For the stated requirement of 60,000 hours of life for the extended mission, it was shown that impingement of propellant (ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (triflouromethylsulfonyl) imide (EMI-Im)) to the accelerator grid from the edges of the plume (“overspray”) was the primary life-limiting mechanism. Using literature-based scaling relations and empirical fits to data from complete (nine emitter) thruster heads10 thruster lifetime was estimated given the nominal geometric conditions for the ST7-DRS thruster. Improvements were suggested following modest geometric changes to the thruster, and careful tracking of tolerance stack-ups.