The T6 ion thruster is providing in-space propulsion for the BepiColombo mission, currently en route to Mercury. Simulations of the accelerator grid erosion during flight operation were carried out using the CEX2D and CEX3D codes in order to verify that the grid lifetime will be sufficient to impart the 5.75 M N s total impulse per thruster required for the mission. Before calculating in-space erosion rates, the models were benchmarked against data from long-duration wear tests. Two-dimensional simulations tracked the time-dependent grid geometry and calculated changes in the electron backstreaming limit V EBS as the grids eroded. Sensitivity studies assessed the impact of uncertainty in the operating screen-to-accelerator grid gap on V EBS . Three-dimensional simulations employed a particle-in-cell model for the charge exchange ions and were able to accurately reproduce the nonaxisymmetric pits and grooves erosion pattern observed on the downstream face of the accelerator grid following ground testing. Charge exchange ion space charge effects were found to broaden the pit erosion features in flight, further reducing the peak erosion rate relative to that observed on the ground. The simulations predicted that T6 will have sufficient margin against both electron backstreaming and accelerator grid wearthrough over the duration of the mission.


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    Titel :

    Accelerator Grid Life Modeling of T6 Ion Thruster for BepiColombo


    Beteiligte:

    Erschienen in:

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    01.05.2021




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch



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