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Internal erosion rates of a 10-kW xenon ion thrusterA 30 cm diameter divergent magnetic field ion thruster, developed for mercury operation at 2.7 kW, was modified and operated with xenon propellant at a power level of 10 kW for 567 h to evaluate thruster performance and lifetime. The major differences between this thruster and its baseline configuration were elimination of the three mercury vaporizers, use of a main discharge cathode with a larger orifice, reduction in discharge baffle diameter, and use of an ion accelerating system with larger acceleration grid holes. Grid thickness measurement uncertainties, combined with estimates of the effects of reactive residual facility background gases gave a minimum screen grid lifetime of 7000 h. Discharge cathode orifice erosion rates were measured with three different cathodes with different initial orifice diameters. Three potential problems were identified during the wear test: the upstream side of the discharge baffle eroded at an unacceptable rate; two of the main cathode tubes experienced oxidation, deformation, and failure; and the accelerator grid impingement current was more than an order of magnitude higher than that of the baseline mercury thruster. The charge exchange ion eroison was not quantified in this test. There were no measurable changes in the accelerator grid thickness or the accelerator grid hole diameters.
Document ID
19880061526
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rawlin, Vincent K.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1988
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
AIAA PAPER 88-2912
Accession Number
88A48753
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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