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Abstract |
High-powered ion engines are at the forefront of NASA’s efforts to seek new means of enabling faster, cheaper, and more cost-efficient missions to the outer planets. Advanced ion propulsion technologies are currently being developed under the Office of Space Science (Code S) through the Next-generation Ion Engine program as well as the Near-term Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) program. The goals of both programs involve expanding the operational envelop of current engine technology with an emphasis on increases in power and thruster lifetime over current state-of-the-art. This research project is focused on gaining improved understanding of next generation ion thrusters. There are two specific goals:
- Conduct thruster and plume interactions measurements to quantify the performance and life-time effects of a multi-thruster array.
- Fully characterize the plasma environment in the discharge produced from a NEXT ion thruster hollow cathode.
Plume and discharge characterization of ion thrusters is accomplished through a combination of classic electrostatic plasma probe techniques along with a new method for obtaining mass spectra. The in-situ probes are used to measure plasma density, temperature, and potential along with ion current flux and ion-energy distribution. The mass spectrometry diagnostic enables detection and quantification of multiply charged propellant ions, impurities, and erosion products such as molybdenum and carbon both in the plume and the discharge chamber of single and multiple-configurations of ion thrusters.
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Discipline |
Keywords |
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ion engines, multi-thruster array, NASA, plasma, NEXT ion thruster hollow cathode
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