Multipole gas thruster design

The development of a low field strength multipole thruster operating on both argon and xenon is described. Experimental results were obtained with a 15-cm diameter multipole thruster and are presented for a wide range of discharge-chamber configurations. Minimum discharge losses were 300-350 eV/ion for argon and 200-250 eV/ion for xenon. Ion beam flatness parameters in the plane of the accelerator grid ranged from 0.85 to 0.93 for both propellants. Thruster performance is correlated for a range of ion chamber sizes and operating conditions as well as propellant type and accelerator system open area. A 30-cm diameter ion source designed and built using the procedure and theory presented here-in is shown capable of low discharge losses and flat ion-beam profiles without optimization. This indicates that by using the low field strength multipole design, as well as general performance correlation information provided herein, it should be possible to rapidly translate initial performance specifications into easily fabricated, high performance prototypes.