Ion Thruster Development Trends and Status in the United States

Abstract

The current interest in ion thrusters for near-Earth and deep-space missions has occurred because of long-term development efforts yielding an understanding of the physical phenomena involved in thruster operation and hardware that is suited to a wide range of missions. Features of state-of-the-art thrusters are described in terms of the various physical processes that occur within them. Tradeoffs that must be considered to arrive at thruster designs suited to commercialization are discussed.

Performance characterization of a helicon double layer thruster using direct thrust measurements

“…The thrust and specific impulse of conventional electric thrusters with proven flight heritage is significantly greater than the levels demonstrated by the non optimised laboratory model HDLT. Electron bombardment ion thrusters such as the T6 by Qinetic, NSTAR and XIPS -25 thrusters have demonstrated a specific impulse of 4120 s, 3100 s and 3800 s respectively [15,16]. These thrusters operate at powers in excess of 4 kW and achieve thrust to power ratios of approximately 0.03 mNW −1 compared to 0.004 mNW −1 produced by the HDLT in this investigation.…”

Electric Propulsion Concepts Enabled by High Power Systems for Space Exploration

“…The appropriate range of operation for the three propellants in terms of I sp and efficiency are shown in Figure 2. 4 Thruster Efficiency, η…”

Development of a Low Power Multipole Confined Microwave Plasma Ion Thruster

“…Use of electric propulsion for such operations presents an attractive alternative due to their low fuel requirement and higher specific impulse. [1][2][3] Therefore, the development and understanding of compact low power electric propulsion systems is an active area of research. Among the various electric thrusters currently operational, ion thrusters provide the highest efficiency and specific impulse.…”