Performance capabilities of the 8-cm Mercury ion thruster

The paper presents an initial characterization of the performance capabilities and constraints of the 8-cm Hg ion thruster system with a view to evaluating its application to large space system propulsion requirements. With minor thruster modifications, the thrust was increased by about a factor of four, while the discharge voltage was reduced from 39 to 22 volts. The thruster was operated over a range of specific impulse of 1950 to 3040 seconds, and a maximum total efficiency of about 54% was attained at a discharge voltage of 24 volts and thruster input power of 0.49 kW.