A slightly modified 8-cm Hg ion thruster demonstrated significant increase in performance. Thrust was increased by almost a factor of five over that of the baseline thruster. Thruster operation with various three grid ion optics configurations; thruster performance as a function of accelerator grid open area, cathode baffle, and cathode orifice size; and a life test of 614 hours at a beam current of 250 mA (17.5 mN thrust) are discussed. Highest thruster efficiency was obtained with the smallest open area accelerator grid. The benefits in efficiency from the low neutral loss grids were mitigated, however, by the limitation such grids place on attainable ion beam current densities. The thruster components suffered negligible weight losses during a life test, which indicated that operation of the 8-cm thruster at extended levels of thrust and power is possible with no significant loss of lifetime.
Extended Performance 8-cm Mercury Ion Thruster
Intern. Elec. Propulsion Conf. ; 1982 ; New Orleans
1981-01-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Extended performance 8-cm mercury ion thruster
NTRS | 1982
|Extended performance 8-cm mercury ion thruster
AIAA | 1982
|Extended-performance thruster technology evaluation
NTRS | 1978
|Extended-performance thruster technology evaluation
AIAA | 1978
|Mercury ion thruster technology
NTRS | 1989
|