Xenon ion propulsion subsystem

Beattie, J. R.; Matossian, J. N.; Poeschel, R. L.; Rogers, W. P.; Martinelli, R. M.

doi:10.2514/3.23174

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…28 Xenon is used as an anesthetic [29][30][31] and for imaging 32 in the health industry and as a satellite propellant in the space industry. 33 Both xenon and krypton are used in lighting, 34 in lasers, 35,36 in double glazing for insulation, 37,38 and as carrier gases in analytical chemistry. 39 As krypton and xenon are present in Earth's atmosphere at concentrations of 1.14 and 0.087 ppm, respectively, 40 the conventional method to obtain xenon and krypton is as a byproduct of the separation of air into oxygen and nitrogen by cryogenic distillation.…”

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confidence: 99%

What Are the Best Materials To Separate a Xenon/Krypton Mixture?

Simon¹,

Mercado²,

et al. 2015

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Accelerating progress in the discovery and deployment of advanced nanoporous materials relies on chemical insight and structure property relationships for rational design. Because of the complexity of this problem, trial-and-error is heavily involved in the laboratory today. A cost-effective route to aid experimental materials discovery is to construct structure models of nanoporous materials in silico and use molecular simulations to rapidly test them and elucidate data-driven guidelines for rational design. For example, highly-tunable nanoporous materials have shown promise as adsorbents for separating an industrially relevant gaseous mixture of xenon and krypton. In this work, we characterize, screen, and analyze the Nanoporous Materials Genome, a database of ca. 670,000 porous material structures, for candidate adsorbents for xenon/krypton separations. For over half a million structures, the computational resources required for a brute-force screening using grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations of Xe/Kr adsorption are prohibitive.To overcome the computational cost, we used a hybrid approach combining machine learning algorithms (random forests) with molecular simulations. We compared the results from our large-scale screening with simple pore models to rationalize the strong link between pore size and selectivity. With this insight, we then analyzed the anatomy of the binding sites of the most selective materials. These binding sites can be constructed from tubes, pockets, rings, or cages and are often composed of non-discrete chemical fragments. The complexity of these binding sites emphasizes the importance of high-throughput computational screenings to discover new materials. Interestingly, our screening study predicts that the two most selective materials in the database are an aluminophosphate zeolite analogue and a calcium based coordination network, both of which have already been synthesized but not yet tested for Xe/Kr separations.

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confidence: 99%

What Are the Best Materials To Separate a Xenon/Krypton Mixture?

Simon¹,

Mercado²,

et al. 2015

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“…The development 13 and performance 6,2,14,15 of the 25-cm XIPS thruster has been previously reported. The 25-cm thruster and Power-Processing Unit (PPU) are manufactured by L-3 Communications, Electron Technologies Inc. (ETI) in Torrance California.…”

Section: -Cm Xips Performancementioning

confidence: 92%

“…Thermal environments associated with geosynchronous orbits are usually dominated by the solar radiation on the thruster and gimbal (at 1 AU) and during eclipse sessions for heating and cooling extremes. In addition, north-south station keeping is often accomplished by SEP burns on a daily basis 13 , which results in much more thermal cycling of the thruster than is experienced in deep space missions. In addition, deep space missions may utilize Venus or Earth gravity assists, which can expose the thruster/gimbal Another factor complicating any delta-qualification for thermal environments is related to differences between the location of the temperature measurements and temperature reference-points on different thrusters.…”

Section: B Thermal Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualification of Commercial XIPS Ion Thrusters for NASA Deep Space Missions

Goebel

Polk²,

Wirz³

et al. 2008

44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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Electric propulsion systems based on commercial ion and Hall thrusters have the potential for significantly reducing the cost and schedule-risk of Ion Propulsion Systems (IPS) for deep space missions. The large fleet of geosynchronous communication satellites that use SEP, which will approach 40 satellites by year-end, demonstrates the significant level of technical maturity and spaceflight heritage achieved by the commercial IPS systems. A program to delta-qualify XIPS ® ion thrusters for deep space missions is underway at JPL. This program includes modeling of the thruster grid and cathode life, environmental testing of a 25-cm EM thruster over DAWN-like vibe and temperature profiles, and wear testing of the thruster cathodes to demonstrate the life and benchmark the model results. This paper will present the delta-qualification status of the XIPS thruster and discuss the life and reliability with respect to known failure mechanisms.

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“…Speci cally, the discharge voltage and ion-to-neutral-atom ratio at which the thruster operates have been reduced to levels where erosion rates yield acceptable mission lifetimes for the thin screen grids required to yield good thruster performance. 26 It is also important to hold the screen grid at or above cathode potential to minimize the energy and, therefore, the sputter erosion rate of the screen grid. 27 The grid system is designed so that ions being extracted into the ion beam do not strike the accel grid directly and sputter erode it.…”

Section: Grid System Lifetimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion Thruster Development Trends and Status in the United States

Wilbur

Rawlin

Beattie³

1998

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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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.

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Xenon ion propulsion subsystem

Cited by 28 publications

References 2 publications

What Are the Best Materials To Separate a Xenon/Krypton Mixture?

What Are the Best Materials To Separate a Xenon/Krypton Mixture?

Qualification of Commercial XIPS Ion Thrusters for NASA Deep Space Missions

Ion Thruster Development Trends and Status in the United States

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