Abstract A number of propellant/thruster combinations are under development in recent years that aim to replace the prevailing hydrazine-driven reaction control thrusters with less hazardous substances (“green propellants”). With some these systems already orbit, characterizing their contamination potential a space environment becomes relevant. In this paper we discuss experiments on plume indu...

* Presented as Paper IEPC-01-23 at the 27 International Electric Propulsion Conference, Pasadena, CA, 15-19 October, 2001. † Copyright © 2001 by the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. All rights reserved. We present results from a numerical investigation of using a section of channel insulator with lower secondary electron emission coefficient to increase thrust and efficiency or reduce insula...

Results from the extended life test of the Deep Space One flight spare ion engine show that enlargement of the discharge cathode assembly orifice due to erosion of the orifice by ion bombardment limits the throughput of the ion thruster, and therefore limits its operational lifetime to approximately three years. Future deep-space missions will require significantly longer operational lifetime, ...

A time-synchronized continuous wave laser induced fluorescence diagnostic technique based on a sample hold scheme is applied to xenon ion velocimetry of a BHT-600 Hall thruster plume. This method is capable of correlating measured fluorescence excitation lineshapes with current fluctuations in a plasma discharge and is tolerant of natural drifting in the current oscillation frequency. This pape...

Floating emissive probe plasma potential data are presented over a two-dimensional array of locations in the discharge chamber of a 40-cm diameter ring-cusp ion thruster. The data rule out the presence of a potential-hill plasma structure downstream of the discharge cathode assembly (DCA), which has been proposed as a mechanism of high-energy ion formation leading to DCA erosion. The discharge ...

In this master thesis the flow behavior and the performance of a bow tunnel thruster at slow forward vessel motion is studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In this Definition Study a literature study is made, fundamental theory is explained and a roadmap for the master thesis is developed. At Royal IHC it is noticed that trailing suction hopper dredgers experience a significant decr...

OPTIMAL THRUSTER SELECTION WITH ROBUST ESTIMATION FOR FORMATION FLYING APPLICATIONS By Trent Yang Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics on May 21, 2003 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics The research goal was to develop a computationally fast mapper that can be easily configured to any spacecraft w...