Qualification of the SPT-140 for use on Western Spacecraft

Delgado, Jorge; Corey, Ronald L; Murashko, Vjacheslav M; Koryakin, A.; Pridanikov, Sergei Y.

doi:10.2514/6.2014-3606

Cited by 27 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

(1 reference statement)

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“…The Psyche mission would be NASA's first to employ Hall thrusters, provided as a part of the solar electric propulsion (SEP) chassis from commercial partner Maxar (formerly SSL). The SPT-140 [11][12][13] is a mid-power class Hall Thruster that is produced by Fakel EDB (Kaliningrad, Russia). It was originally developed in the 1990's and qualified for geostationary communication satellite missions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facility pressure effects on a Hall thruster with an external cathode: I. Numerical simulations

Ortega

Mikellides

Chaplin

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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We employ the 2D (r-z) code Hall2De to conduct numerical simulations of the SPT-140, a Hall thruster that operates with an external hollow cathode. The simulations are informed by direct measurements of the plasma conditions in the acceleration channel that were obtained using the laser-induced fluorescence technique. We validate our simulation results with additional plasma measurements, wear test erosion rates, and performance data as a function of background pressure. The comparisons of the simulation results with thrust measurements provide insight into the longstanding question of how background pressure affects Hall thruster performance. We find that in thrusters with an external cathode changes in the thrust with varying backpressure can be partially explained by changes in the plasma density near the cathode. We argue that such changes in the density affect the voltage coupling and, eventually, the thrust. However, accounting for this mechanism alone in the simulations over-predicts the thrust measured during ground tests for backpressures less than 10 μTorr. Also, at these backpressures, the measurements showed a higher rate of change of the thrust compared to the simulations. We propose that one explanation for this discrepancy is that the acceleration region may be axially shifting downstream with decreasing backpressure. Though possible, we also recognize that such shifts are not observed in LIF measurements at the lowest pressures for which such diagnostics are possible. We discuss alternative explanations in Part II of this article.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facility pressure effects on a Hall thruster with an external cathode: I. Numerical simulations

Ortega

Mikellides

Chaplin

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…The right panel in Figure 8 shows that gridded ion engines have exhibited an average of 0.59 anomalies per spacecraft so equipped compared with an average of 0.04 anomalies for the Hall thruster equipped spacecraft-a difference of over an order of magnitude for the ion engines. 8 More precisely, the null hypothesis that ion engines and Hall thrusters have the same ratio of minor to major anomalies, cannot be rejected (p-value = 0.3). To eliminate the effect of possible dependent EP anomalies on the same spacecraft, we considered again only the number of spacecraft that exhibited EP anomalies (not the number of anomalies), and we calculated the risk ratio for the two types of thrusters along with the 90% confidence interval for this statistic.…”

Section: Prevalence Of Failure Events By Severity and Time To Ep Anomalymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…An important body of literature exist on testing and space-qualifying EP thrusters. For example, Delgado et al (2014) discuss the qualification of the Hall effect thruster SPT-140 for use on Western spacecraft. The authors used two qualification models of the thruster, one to undergo qualification and acceptance testing and has accumulated several thousand hours of operation, and one to undergo plume characterization and other performance testing.…”

Section: Peculiarities and Limitations Of Observational Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric propulsion reliability: Statistical analysis of on-orbit anomalies and comparative analysis of electric versus chemical propulsion failure rates

Saleh

Geng

et al. 2017

Acta Astronautica

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With a few hundred spacecraft launched to date with electric propulsion (EP), it is possible to conduct an epidemiological study of EP's on orbit reliability. The first objective of the present work was to undertake such a study and analyze EP's track record of on orbit anomalies and failures by different covariates. The second objective was to provide a comparative analysis of EP's failure rates with those of chemical propulsion. Satellite operators, manufacturers, and insurers will make reliability-and risk-informed decisions regarding the adoption and promotion of EP on board spacecraft. This work provides evidence-based support for such decisions. After a thorough data collection, 162 EP-equipped satellites launched between January 1997 and December 2015 were included in our dataset for analysis. Several statistical analyses were conducted, at the aggregate level and then with the data stratified by severity of the anomaly, by orbit type, and by EP technology. Mean Time To Anomaly (MTTA) and the distribution of the time to (minor/major) anomaly were investigated, as well as anomaly rates.The important findings in this work include the following: (1) Post-2005, EP's reliability has outperformed that of chemical propulsion; (2) Hall thrusters have robustly outperformed chemical propulsion, and they maintain a small but shrinking reliability advantage over gridded ion engines. Other results were also provided, for example the differentials in MTTA of minor and major anomalies for gridded ion engines and Hall thrusters. It was shown that: (3) Hall thrusters exhibit minor anomalies very early on orbit, which might be indicative of infant anomalies, and thus would benefit from better ground testing and acceptance procedures; (4) Strong evidence exists that EP anomalies (onset and likelihood) and orbit type are dependent, a dependence likely mediated by either the space environment or differences in thrusters duty cycles; (5) Gridded ion thrusters exhibit both infant and wear-out failures, and thus would benefit from a reliability growth program that addresses both these types of problems.

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“…The thrust and specific impulse of the thruster demonstrated a downward trend within the first 2000 h of the life test. After 2000 h, the thrust and specific impulse stabilized [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Life test research of a high specific impulse Hall thruster HEP-140MF

Wei¹,

Wu²,

Hu³

et al. 2020

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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In this study, a high specific impulse Hall thruster, HEP-140MF, having a high discharge voltage, was used to accelerate ions. We aimed to obtain a high specific impulse and an acceleration zone moving downstream toward the channel exit to reduce wall sputtering erosion of the walls of the discharge channel, hence ensuring an enhanced lifetime. To study the lifetime characteristics of the high specific impulse Hall thruster, a life test was performed on the HEP-140MF thruster for the first time, and performance parameters, such as thrust, specific impulse, and efficiency, were measured. Changes in the performance parameters and evolutions in the surface profiles of the discharge channel wall were summarized. The reasons contributing to these changes during the life test were analyzed. Moreover, the accelerated life test method was validated on the HEP-140MF.

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Qualification of the SPT-140 for use on Western Spacecraft

Cited by 27 publications

References 1 publication

Facility pressure effects on a Hall thruster with an external cathode: I. Numerical simulations

Facility pressure effects on a Hall thruster with an external cathode: I. Numerical simulations

Electric propulsion reliability: Statistical analysis of on-orbit anomalies and comparative analysis of electric versus chemical propulsion failure rates

Life test research of a high specific impulse Hall thruster HEP-140MF

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