Utilizing commercial or military satellites as testbeds for subsystems is a potential platform for small devices. Electric propulsion is a viable and upcoming subsystem that is of high interest to planetary mission engineers as well as commercial satellite developers. It is proposed that by incorporating small lightweight electric propulsion devices onto small satellites as external or 'bolt-on' experiments, an increase in the number of flight opportunities can occur. Specific problems are spacecraft body interaction, contamination effects, thermal interface problems, power conditioning control electronics, and propulsion feed system interfaces.


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    Title :

    On-orbit characterization of electric propulsion on LEO satellites


    Contributors:
    Barnhart, D. (author) / Sankovic, J. (author)


    Publication date :

    1992-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English