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Assessment of spectroscopic, real-time ion thruster grid erosion-rate measurements
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Domonkos, Matthew T. Stevens, Richard E. |
| Copyright Year | 2000 |
| Description | The success of the ion thruster on the Deep Space One mission has opened the gate to the use of primary ion propulsion. Many of the projected planetary missions require throughput and specific impulse beyond those qualified to date. Spectroscopic, real-time ion thruster grid erosion-rate measurements are currently in development at the NASA Glenn Research Center. A preliminary investigation of the emission spectra from an NSTAR derivative thruster with titanium grid was conducted. Some titanium lines were observed in the discharge chamber; however, the signals were too weak to estimate the erosion of the screen grid. Nevertheless, this technique appears to be the only non-intrusive real-time means to evaluate screen grid erosion, and improvement of the collection optics is proposed. Direct examination of the erosion species using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) was determined to be the best method for a real-time accelerator grid erosion diagnostic. An approach for a quantitative LIF diagnostic was presented. |
| File Size | 13459873 |
| File Format | |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2000-09-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Spacecraft Propulsion And Power Spectroscopy Laser Induced Fluorescence Nonintrusive Measurement Ion Propulsion Titanium Research and Development Erosion Real Time Operation Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
