The 30-cm ion thruster power processor

A power processor unit for powering and controlling the 30 cm Mercury Electron-Bombardment Ion Thruster was designed, fabricated, and tested. The unit uses a unique and highly efficient transistor bridge inverter power stage in its implementation. The system operated from a 200 to 400 V dc input power bus, provides 12 independently controllable and closely regulated dc power outputs, and has an overall power conditioning capacity of 3.5 kW. Protective circuitry was incorporated as an integral part of the design to assure failure-free operation during transient and steady-state load faults. The implemented unit demonstrated an electrical efficiency between 91.5 and 91.9 at its nominal rated load over the 200 to 400 V dc input bus range

Feasibility study of common electronic equipment for shuttle sortie experiment payloads

A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using standardized electronic equipment on the space shuttle vehicle in an effort to reduce the cost estimates. The standards for Nuclear Instrument Modules (NIM) and CAMAC electronic equipment are presented and described. It was determined that the CAMAC electronic equipment was more suitable for use with the space shuttle systems. Specific applications of the CAMAC equipment are analyzed. Illustrations of the equipment and circuit diagrams of the subsystems are provided

The STAR MAPS-based PiXeL detector

The PiXeL detector (PXL) for the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) of the STAR experiment at RHIC is the first application of the state-of-the-art thin Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) technology in a collider environment. Custom built pixel sensors, their readout electronics and the detector mechanical structure are described in detail. Selected detector design aspects and production steps are presented. The detector operations during the three years of data taking (2014-2016) and the overall performance exceeding the design specifications are discussed in the conclusive sections of this paper