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This paper studies the application of an electric propulsion system for autonomous station-keeping of a remote sensing spacecraft flying at low altitude. The considered propulsion system exploits a Xenon propellant bus, which operates both a low power Hall effect thruster and a resistojet. The former is used for continuous in-track control, while the latter provides the impulsive thrusts necessary for cross-track maneuvers. The adopted navigation solution is based on an extended Kalman filter, employing gyro, star-tracker and GPS measurements. Lyapunov-based and proportionalderivative feedback laws are used for orbit and attitude control, respectively. The performance of the proposed electric propulsion system and guidance, navigation and control solution is evaluated on a low Earth orbit mission.

We present an advanced diagnostic system for in situ characterization of electric propulsion thrusters and ion beam sources. The system uses a high-precision five-axis positioning system with a modular setup and the following diagnostic tools: a telemicroscopy head for optical imaging, a triangular laser head for surface profile scanning, a pyrometer for temperature scanning, a Faraday probe for current density mapping, and an energy-selective mass spectrometer for beam characterization (energy and mass distribution, composition). The capabilities of our diagnostic system are demonstrated with a Hall effect thruster SPT-100D EM1.

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