We have completed the design and installation of a facility at Stanford University for the studies of plume and discharge plasma structure of xenon-ion thrusters used in space electric propulsion. The low pressures provided by the facility during thruster testing provides an improved environment for evaluating thruster performance, including near field and far field plume properties (e.g., particle velocities, densities, temperatures), which are needed to evaluate the spacecraft compatibility of these advanced thrusters. The facility as designed and installed includes a stainless steel vacuum chamber that is cryogenically pumped, and instrumented with electrical and optical ports for plasma and laser diagnostics. The facility will permit a tank pressure of less than 5 x 10 Torr while flowing 2.7 mg/sec of xenon propellant.
Vacuum Diagnostics Facility for Electric Propulsion Studies
1998
15 pages
Report
No indication
English
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