Development of Electric Propulsion Thrusters for Small Spacecraft at RIAME MAI

Paper number

IAC-18,C4,4,11,x43601

Author

Mr. ALEKSANDR BOGATYY, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Mr. Ruslan Akhmetzhanov, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Dr. Grigoriy Dyakonov, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Prof. Vladimir Kim, Russian Federation, RIAME

Coauthor

Mrs. Natalia Lyubinskaya, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Prof. Garri A. Popov, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Mr. Sergey Semenikhin, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Mr. Denis Merkurev, Russian Federation, Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME), MAI

Coauthor

Dr. Vladimir Obukhov, Russian Federation, RIAME

Coauthor

Mr. Aleksey Derkachev, Russian Federation, KBKhA

Year

2018

Abstract

The Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics of the Moscow Aviation Institute (RIAME MAI) is deeply involved in the development of low-power electric propulsion thrusters to be used as a port of the motion control system of small spacecraft. A line of thrusters with the power ranging from several watts up to some hundreds of watts is developed on the basis of ablative pulsed plasma thrusters (APPT), thus enabling coverage for a wide range of small spacecraft with the mass from 10 kg up to several hundreds of kg. With a view to ensuring active life of a small spacecraft of about 5 years and longer at the available power from some watts to 200 W, it is proposed to use the APPT-based electric propulsion system (EPS), while ion thrusters (IT) and stationary plasma thrusters (SPT) are proposed for the power of over 200 W.
Electric propulsion systems based on APPT with the power of up to 100 W have unquestionable advantage over propulsion systems of other types: lower mass, design simplicity, high failure tolerance, long lifetime, high reliability, and lower prime cost. Independence of the APPT performance characteristics (except thrust) on the power consumption is its significant feature.
EPS on the basis of IT with the power consumption of 200 W and higher is characterized by high thrust efficiency and long lifetime. This enables their application not for the orbit correction only, but for solving cruise problems also.
The SPT-based EPS with the relatively low power consumption (of about 200 W) has low thrust cost, enabling its application on board the low-orbit spacecraft. Comparing to IT, thrusters of such type have more simple design and higher manufacturability. Vast experience in the SPT industrial production is accumulated in Russia.

Abstract document

IAC-18,C4,4,11,x43601.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-18,C4,4,11,x43601.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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