The objectives of this program were to evaluate the performance and to conduct a life investigation of one millipound Teflon Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT). The goal of the life demonstration was a total impulse of 70,000 lbf-s (312,000 N-S) or 14 million pulses. The PPT thruster was designed for satellite stationkeeping and drag make-up propulsion applications. It is extremely simple in concept, utilizing a solid propellant (Teflon), a simple electrode geometry (rails), and a common form of energy storage (capacitors). In application at the millipound level, this simplicity demonstrated itself ably in test flights aboard the LES-6 spacecraft, the SMS spacecraft, and on the Navy TIP and NOVA satellites. The PPT thrusters performed flawlessly in their role of drag make-up and precision spacecraft positional control. Scaling the PPT thruster to the millipound level for North-South stationkeeping application proved to be somewhat more difficult. The configuration changes required to achieve the higher thrust level complicated the design and made the component requirements more stringent. This report provides the background, program description, and test results from the PPT Mission Endurance Test program. It also provides a lessons learned overview of the program to benefit future programs. Where appropriate, specific problem areas are addressed with a detailed description of the problems encountered and RRC recommended fixes for these problems. (jhd)


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    Endurance testing of a pulsed plasma thruster for nanosatellites

    Krejci, David / Seifert, Bernhard / Scharlemann, Carsten | Elsevier | 2013


    Pulsed plasma propulsion mission integration study

    Huberman, M.N. / Zafran, S. | Tema Archive | 1979


    Pulsed plasma propulsion mission integration study

    HUBERMAN, M. / ZAFRAN, S. | AIAA | 1979