Three gridded ion engines for future high power electric propulsion missions
- Paper number
IAC-15,C4,IP,34,x31165
- Author
Prof. Stephen Gabriel, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
- Year
2015
- Abstract
Conventional gridded ion engines have two grids to extract the ions form the discharge chamber. This ion extraction system is inherently limited to either high specific impulse and low thrust density or high thrust density and low specific impulse because of the physics of the ion extraction, which is governed by the Child Langmuir law. By adding a third grid, it is possible to achieve both high specific impulse and high thrust density. Such a thruster, designated DS3G can achieve thrust densities several times higher than two-gridded devices and specific impulses in excess of 10000 secs. The paper will present results on both analytic and numerical modelling of performance and lifetime of this type of thruster, which can be operated at power levels of 25kW but with a volume essentially the same as conventional thrusters at power levels of a few kWs. The possibilities of dual mode operation, that is high thrust, low specific impulse and low thrust high specific impulse as well as some mission applications will also be examined.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)