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Performance Evaluation of an Expanded Range XIPS Ion Thruster System for NASA Science MissionsThis paper examines the benefit that a solar electric propulsion (SEP) system based on the 5 kW Xenon Ion Propulsion System (XIPS) could have for NASA's Discovery class deep space missions. The relative cost and performance of the commercial heritage XIPS system is compared to NSTAR ion thruster based systems on three Discovery class reference missions: 1) a Near Earth Asteroid Sample Return, 2) a Comet Rendezvous and 3) a Main Belt Asteroid Rendezvous. It is found that systems utilizing a single operating XIPS thruster provides significant performance advantages over a single operating NSTAR thruster. In fact, XIPS performs as well as systems utilizing two operating NSTAR thrusters, and still costs less than the NSTAR system with a single operating thruster. This makes XIPS based SEP a competitive and attractive candidate for Discovery class science missions.
Document ID
20070011637
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Oh, David Y.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Goebel, Dan M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
July 9, 2006
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Meeting Information
Meeting: 42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit
Location: Sacramento, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: July 9, 2006
End Date: July 12, 2006
Sponsors: American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society for Electrical Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
ion thrusters
solar electric propulsion (SEP)
Xenon Ion Propulsion System (XIPS)

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