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Description
Electric Propulsion (EP) is a type of space propulsion that can reduce the cost of orbital service. There are different types of electric thruster, including ECR Electrostatic Thruster (ECRET), which uses ECR to generate plasma. Ions are then accelerated in outer space by electric force to develop the thrust: $T=\dot{m}v$, where $\dot{m}$ and $v$ are the ion flow rate and their exhaust velocity. This concept is from ECRIS**, capable of producing high currents of multiply charged ions. The high ion ejection velocities result in interesting EP performance, in particular in terms of specific impulse: $I_{sp}=g_0^{-1}v$, where $g_0$ is the gravitational acceleration. This work describes initial tests of an ECRIS operating as an ECRET.
The results were obtained using a 10 GHz Microgan ECRIS supplied with argon or xenon. The plasma was ignited at an RF power of up to 25 W, and ions were extracted using a voltage of up to 15 kV. A magnetic dipole and a Faraday cup were used to characterize the beam. These measurements and the reported parameters allowed the computation of thruster performance.
A low thrust of ~10 µN for ~100 µA and a very high specific impulse of ~10 ks are obtained. The gas appears to be consumed efficiently, but this ECRIS needs to be adapted to develop more thrust by extracting more current. The use of multiply charged ions implies a greater power requirement, a limitation in EP. The total efficiency is discussed, and possible adaptations are then presented
Footnotes
Goebel (2023) Fundamentals of electric propulsion
Mazouffre (2016) Electric propulsion for satellites and spacecraft
**Geller (2018) Electron cyclotron resonance ion sources and ECR plasmas
| Classification | MC6: Applications and diagnostics |
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