In-flight performance of the NSTAR ion propulsion system on the Deep Space One mission

Polk, James E.; Kakuda, R.; Anderson, John R.; Brophy, John R.; Rawlin, Vincent K.; Sovey, James S.; Hamley, John A.

doi:10.1109/aero.2000.878373

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…For what concerns the curve-fitting approach, some main performance parameters (i.e., thrust, input power, and efficiencies) in some different operating conditions of various engines present in the open literature (T5 [27], T6 [28], T7 [29], NEXT [30], NSTAR [23], XIPS-13 [24], XIPS-25 [25], JPL-15 [31], Mitsubishi ETS 6 [32], and Mitsubishi ETS 8 [33]) were collected to build, using MATLAB software, useful curves from which data can be interpolated.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The following sections will describe the tool and will show its validation in an attempt to match known GIT data (e.g., NSTAR [23], XIPS [24,25]); some of the results will be also compared with those obtained with a design tool that makes use of a simple macroscopic plasma-source simulation (SMPS) code and a genetic algorithm (GA) [26]; finally, it will be demonstrated that the tool can be used to design very low-power (100 W) thrusters (2 mN of thrust) that could enable new types of space missions (e.g., LUMIO [15] and M-ARGO [16]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preliminary Design Tool for Medium-Low-Power Gridded Ion Thrusters

2023

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Gridded ion thrusters (GITs) are an established technology that, by covering a wide range of power class, allows one to accomplish a lot of space mission types. Many analysis tools and analytical models describing the physics of GITs are present in the open literature, while there is a lack of tools for preliminary design, considering the mission requirements (i.e., thrust or power). Thus, in this work, a tool that takes as input thrust or power and that combines analytical formulas, describing GITs’ physics; a curve-fitting approach, exploiting data from different ion thrusters present in the open literature; and an FEMM (finite element method magnetics) simulation has been developed and validated against known medium-low-power (<5 kW) gridded ion thrusters (e.g., NSTAR, XIPS, ETS-8). Some of the main outputs of the developed tool are its specific impulse, efficiencies, voltages, and propellant flow rate. The results obtained by the tool have been in good agreement with the real performance and working parameters of the thrusters selected for the validation, obtaining an average error of less than 5–10%. The tool has been also compared with a tool proposed in the literature as a possible design tool, which makes use of a simple macroscopic plasma-source simulation (SMPS) code with a genetic algorithm (GA) and obtains slightly more accurate results on average. Finally, the tool has been exploited for the design of a very low-power GIT (100 W) that is able to produce 2 mN of thrust, as the interest of the scientific community in miniaturizing electric engines has recently grown because they could enable new space missions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Design Tool for Medium-Low-Power Gridded Ion Thrusters

2023

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“…The evaporated electrode materials might deposit on the grids, and for the short screen-accelerator grid gap, the deposited particles might result in short circuit of the screen and accelerator grids and prevent the thruster from performing normally. For example, the NEXT thruster and NSTAR thruster had been extinguished in ground-based long-life experiments due to the unexpected electric breakdowns [73], [74].…”

Section: Effect Of Electric Breakdown On Spacecraftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion Electric Propulsion System Electric Breakdown Problems: Causes, Impacts and Protection Strategies

Peng,

Li,

Song

et al. 2023

IEEE Access

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Ion electric propulsion systems have been widely used in satellite station keeping, attitude control, and orbit transfer due to their advantages of high specific impulse, good flexibility, and high reliability. The electric breakdown might happen at grids or across isolators due to the disturbing effects of the power source or environment. The electric breakdown can induce spurious effects in the power processing unit (PPU) circuit from the return currents and voltage drops, which could be several orders of magnitude higher than the impulses at normal working conditions. When the electric breakdown happens, it might result in serious electromagnetic interference and damage to the electric and electronic equipment in the spacecraft. This paper provides a comprehensive summary of the various factors that can cause electric breakdown in an ion electric propulsion system, such as environmental factors, manufacturing considerations, and operational conditions of the thruster. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of electric breakdown on the ion thruster, electric propulsion system, and spacecraft mission is explored. The effectiveness of different grounding configurations in safeguarding against ion thruster electric breakdown has also been evaluated. Based on the analysis and discussion, the control and protection strategies are proposed for the ion electric propulsion system electric breakdown problems.

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“…The ion thruster, also named the gridded ion thruster (GIT), which has been gradually developed to be a mature technology since it was proposed in the 1900s [1], is extensively applied in space missions as an electric propulsion system. For instance, the NSTAR-30 ion propulsion system was used on Deep Space One [2] and Dawn [3] for the space exploration missions from NASA. Two T5 ion thrusters as the main engines were applied in the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) mission from ESA [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical study of the radio-frequency biased accelerating system in ion thrusters

Bai

Cao

et al. 2023

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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A 2D-3V implicit immersed-finite-element particle-in-cell (IFE-PIC) model has been introduced to investigate the RF self-bias accelerating system applied in the RF ion thruster. A set of holes in a two-grid system with slit apertures is simulated in Cartesian coordinates. The characteristics of the plasma plume, such as the ion density, the neutralization rate and the ion and electron current density have been investigated for different RF voltage amplitudes (600-1200V) and frequencies (6-30MHz). Furthermore, the performance of the thruster has also been carefully studied. The simulation results show that the well-focused plasma beam can be formed when the voltage amplitude is larger than 900V and the frequency exceeds the reciprocal of ion transit time (>= 12 MHz) in our simulation cases. The performance of the system can be evidently improved by increasing the voltage amplitude and the frequency, and the loss of the particle and thrust are reduced correspondingly. The bulk region of the plasma beam in the downstream shows a good quasi-neutrality and the ions are dominant in the peripheral region when the well-focused state is achieved. The high ion density beamlet in the periphery of the ion beam is closer to the axis when the voltage amplitude is increasing, while it is expanded radially with increasing the frequency. The backstream electrons to the upstream have been observed and it mainly occurs in the phase which the electron cannot escape.

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In-flight performance of the NSTAR ion propulsion system on the Deep Space One mission

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Preliminary Design Tool for Medium-Low-Power Gridded Ion Thrusters

Preliminary Design Tool for Medium-Low-Power Gridded Ion Thrusters

Ion Electric Propulsion System Electric Breakdown Problems: Causes, Impacts and Protection Strategies

Numerical study of the radio-frequency biased accelerating system in ion thrusters

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