In the studies of proposed electric propulsion missions one of the areas of concern is the possible contamination of spacecraft instruments and thermal control surfaces by exhaust particles from an ion thruster. Vacuum tank tests were conducted in ground facilities to determine the extent of this deposition by thruster exhaust particles, but the application of these results to long term space missions is questionable. The flight thermal data from the SERT II satellite, the only electric propulsion mission with an extensive thruster operational history, was reviewed specifically to see if there is any evidence of contamination that could be attributed to the 5860 hours of mercury bombardment ion thruster operation. This evaluation of the flight data shows that the only evidence of deposition occurred on the contamination experiment solar cells which are located at the edge of the thruster exhaust beam. There is no evidence of any deposition of ion thruster efflux on any other surface of the satellite.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Determination of the extent of ion thruster efflux


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    11th Elec. Propulsion Conf ; 1975 ; New Orleans, LA, United States


    Publication date :

    1975-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English