Accession Number:

ADA288697

Title:

Plume Measurments with the T5 Xenon Ion Thruster.

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

AEROSPACE CORP EL SEGUNDO CA TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS

Personal Author(s):

• Pollard, James E.

Report Date:

1994-09-30

Pagination or Media Count:

17.0

Abstract:

Two measurement techniques for investigating performance and life-limiting characteristics of ion engines are applied to a 10-cm T5 xenon thruster 1 Thrust vector stability is evaluated with four double-wire Langmuir probes, aligned in the form of a cross, which are placed in the exhaust plume and are translated by a motorized positioning system to balance the currents collected along two orthogonal axes. The thrust vector position is thereby tracked with an angular resolution of 0.01 deg and a response time of 5 s. 2 A plume-sampling mass spectrometer has been developed for measuring the xenon charge state distribution and the flux of erosion products from the discharge chamber as a function of operating point. To demonstrate the capability for real-time erosion monitoring, plume spectra that reveal trace amounts of metal ions are presented.

Descriptors:

• *MEASUREMENT
• *PLUMES
• *XENON
• *THRUST VECTOR CONTROL SYSTEMS
• *ION ENGINES
• ANGLES
• IONS
• METALS
• METHODOLOGY
• POSITION(LOCATION)
• STABILITY
• MONITORING
• REAL TIME
• FLUX(RATE)
• RESOLUTION
• CHARGED PARTICLES
• EROSION
• SPECTRA
• LIMITATIONS
• AXES
• MASS SPECTROMETERS
• LANGMUIR PROBES
• EXHAUST PLUMES
• CHAMBERS
• ORTHOGONALITY
• CURRENTS

Subject Categories:

• Electric and Ion Propulsion
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Rocket Engines

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE