Xenon ion propulsion systems are being developed by NASA Lewis Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide flight qualification and validation for planetary and earth-orbital missions. In the ground-test element of this program, light-weight (less than 7 kg), 30 cm diameter ion thrusters have been fabricated, and preliminary design verification tests have been conducted. At 2.3 kW, the thrust, specific impulse, and efficiency were 91 mN, 3300 s, and 0.65, respectively. An engineering model thruster is now undergoing a 2000 h wear-test. A breadboard power processor is being developed to operate from an 80 V to 120 V power bus with inverter switching frequencies of 50 kHz. The power processor design is a pathfinder and uses only three power supplies. The projected specific mass of a flight unit is about 5 kg/kW with an efficiency of 0.92 at the full-power of 2.5 kW. Preliminary integration tests of the neutralizer power supply and the ion thruster have been completed. Fabrication and test of the discharge and beam/accelerator power stages are underway.
Development Status of the NASA 30-cm Ion Thruster and Power Processor
1994
10 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Electric & Ion Propulsion , Unmanned Spacecraft , Manned Spacecraft , Engine tests , Ion engines , Ion propulsion , Power supply circuits , Propulsion system configurations , Propulsion system performance , Xenon , Energy conversion efficiency , Engine design , Ground tests , Rocket thrust , Specific impulse
Development Status of the NASA 30-CM Ion Thruster and Power Processor
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|NASA 30 cm Ion Thruster Development Status
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|NASA 30 cm Ion Thruster Development Status
NTIS | 1995
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