Cycle life testing of 8-cm mercury ion thruster cathodes

Two main cathodes have successfully completed 2800 and 1980 cycles and three neutralizers, 3928, 3050, and 2850 cycles in ongoing cycle life tests of flight-type cathode-isolator-vaporizer and neutralizer-isolator-vaporizer assemblies for the 4.45 mN 8-cm Hg ion thruster system. Each cycle included one hour of cathode operation. Starting and operating conditions simulated those expected in a typical auxiliary propulsion mission duty cycle. The cycle life test results are presented along with results of an insert comparison test which led to the selection of a rolled foil insert type for the 8-cm Engineering Model Thruster cathodes

A 20000-hour endurance test of a structurally and thermally integrated 5-cm diameter ion thruster main cathode

A 5-cm diameter mercury ion thruster main cathode has completed over 20,000 hours of operation in an ongoing lifetime endurance test. The cathode operating parameters remained at acceptable performance levels throughout the test, the first 9175 hours of which were part of a thruster endurance test. After 20,000 hours, the cathode discharge was easily restarted, the tip orifice indicated negligible erosion and the tip heater showed no degradation. The cathode-isolator- vaporizer assembly, a major thruster subsystem, has thus successfully demonstrated an operational lifetime capability of 20,000 hours, which is the lifetime goal of the 8-cm diameter auxiliary propulsion ion thruster

Theoretical model applicable to the experimental determination of surface anchoring energies of nematic liquid crystals

For a cell configuration consisting of a thin nematic layer bounded by two parallel plane surfaces, with opposing surfaces suitably treated to produce dissimilar molecular orientations, the elastic continuum theory for nematic liquid crystals was applied to derive an expression relating surface anchoring energies to elastic constants, director orientations at the substrate surfaces, and cell thickness. A numerical comparison with the elastically isotropic result over a range K sub 3 = 1.5 K sub 1 to K sub 3 = 10 K sub 1 showed the effect of elastic anisotropy could be quite significant. Surface anchoring energies calculated for anisotropic of K sub 3 = 2 K sub 1 and K sub 3 + 10 K sub 1 were approximately 50% and 500%, respectively, than the isotropic values

Pulse ignition characterization of mercury ion thruster hollow cathode using an improved pulse ignitor

An investigation of the high voltage pulse ignition characteristics of the 8 cm mercury ion thruster neutralizer cathode identified a low rate of voltage rise and long pulse duration as desirable factors for reliable cathode starting. Cathode starting breakdown voltages were measured over a range of mercury flow rates and tip heater powers for pulses with five different rates of voltage rise. Breakdown voltage requirements for the fastest rising pulse (2.5 to 3.0 kV/micro sec) were substantially higher (2 kV or more) than for the slowest rising pulse (0.3 to 0.5 kV/micro sec) for the same starting conditions. Also described is an improved, low impedance pulse ignitor circuit which reduces power losses and eliminates problems with control and packaging associated with earlier designs

Ion beam sputter etching of orthopedic implanted alloy MP35N and resulting effects on fatigue

The effects of two types of argon ion sputter etched surface structures on the tensile stress fatigue properties of orthopedic implant alloy MP35N were investigated. One surface structure was a natural texture resulting from direct bombardment by 1 keV argon ions. The other structure was a pattern of square holes milled into the surface by a 1 keV argon ion beam through a Ni screen mask. The etched surfaces were subjected to tensile stress only in fatigue tests designed to simulate the cyclic load conditions experienced by the stems of artificial hip joint implants. Both types of sputter etched surface structures were found to reduce the fatigue strength below that of smooth surface MP35N

Ion sputter textured graphite

A specially textured surface of pyrolytic graphite exhibits extremely low yields of secondary electrons and reduced numbers of reflected primary electrons after impingement of high energy primary electrons. An ion flux having an energy between 500 eV and 1000 eV and a current density between 1.0 mA/sq cm and 6.0 mA/sq cm produces surface roughening or texturing which is in the form of needles or spines. Such textured surfaces are especially useful as anode collector plates in high efficiency electron tube devices

Homogeneous alignment of nematic liquid crystals by ion beam etched surfaces

A wide range of ion beam etch parameters capable of producing uniform homogeneous alignment of nematic liquid crystals on SiO2 films are discussed. The alignment surfaces were generated by obliquely incident (angles of 5 to 25 deg) argon ions with energies in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 KeV, ion current densities of 0.1 to 0.6 mA sq cm and etch times of 1 to 9 min. A smaller range of ion beam parameters (2.0 KeV, 0.2 mA sq cm, 5 to 10 deg and 1 to 5 min.) were also investigated with ZrO2 films and found suitable for homogeneous alignment. Extinction ratios were very high (1000), twist angles were small ( or = 3 deg) and tilt-bias angles very small ( or = 1 deg). Preliminary scanning electron microscopy results indicate a parallel oriented surface structure on the ion beam etched surfaces which may determine alignment

Ion sputter textured graphite electrode plates

A specially textured surface of pyrolytic graphite exhibits extremely low yields of secondary electrons and reduced numbers of reflected primary electrons after impingement of high energy primary electrons. Electrode plates of this material are used in multistage depressed collectors. An ion flux having an energy between 500 iV and 1000 iV and a current density between 1.0 mA/sq cm and 6.0 mA/sq cm produces surface roughening or texturing which is in the form of needles or spires. Such textured surfaces are especially useful as anode collector plates in high tube devices

Measurement of beam divergence of 30-centimeter dished grids

The beam divergence of a 30-centimeter diameter thruster with dished grids was calculated from current densities measured with a probe rake containing seventeen planar molybdenum probes. The measured data were analyzed as a function of a number of parameters. The most sensitive parameters were the amount of compensation of the accelerator grid and the ratio of net to total accelerating voltage. The thrust losses were reduced by over 5 percent with the use of compensated grids alone, and by variation of other parameters the overall thrust losses due to beam divergence were reduced to less than 2 percent

High-Efficiency Ka-Band Waveguide Two-Way Asymmetric Power Combiner

NASA is planning a number of Space Exploration, Earth Observation and Space Science missions where Ka-band solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) could have a role. Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) based SSPAs with output powers on the order of 10 W at Ka-band frequencies would be adequate to satisfy the data transmission rate requirements at the distances involved. MMICs are a type of integrated circuit fabricated on a GaAs wafer, which operates at micro wave frequencies and performs the function of signal amplification. The highest power Ka-band (31.8 to 32.3 GHz) SSPA to have flown in space had an output power of 2.6 W with an overall efficiency of 14.3 percent. This SSPA was built around discrete GaAs pHEMT (high electron mobility transistor) devices and flew aboard the Deep Space One spacecraft. State-of-the-art GaAs pHEMT-based MMIC power amplifiers (PAs) can deliver RF power at Ka-band frequencies anywhere from 3 W with a power added efficiency (PAE) of 32 percent to 6 W with a PAE of 26 percent. However, to achieve power levels higher than 6 W, the output of several MMIC PAs would need to be combined using a high-efficiency power combiner. Conventional binary waveguide power combiners, based on short-slot and magic-T circuits, require MMIC PAs with identical amplitude and phase characteristics for high combining efficiency. However, due to manufacturing process variations, the output powers of the MMIC PAs tend to be unequal, and hence the need to develop unequal power combiners. A two-way asymmetric magic-T based power combiner for MMIC power amplifiers, which can take in unequal inputs, has been successfully designed, fabricated, and characterized over NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) frequency range of 31.8 to 32.3 GHz. The figure is a transparent view of the a sym - metric combiner that shows the 4-port configuration and the internal structure. The rod, post, and iris are positioned by design to achieve the desired asymmetric power ratio, phase equality, and port isolation. Although the combiner was designed for an input power ratio of 2:1, it can be custom-designed for any arbitrary power ratio and frequency range. The manufactured prototype combiner was precision machined from aluminum and is less than 2 in.3 (32.8 cm3). Previously investigated rectangular waveguide unequal power combiners were based on shunt/series coupling slots, E-plane septums, or H-plane T-junctions. All the prior art unequal power combiners operated at or below X-band (10 GHz) frequencies and were primarily used in the feed network of antenna arrays. The only reported asymmetric magic-T was developed as a 2:1 power divider for operation at a much lower frequency, around 500 MHz. The measured power ratio when tested as a power divider was very close to 2 and the phase balance was within 2.6, resulting in near ideal performance. When tested as a combiner using two MMIC SSPAs with a 2:1 power output ratio, an efficiency greater than 90 percent was demonstrated over the 500 MHz DSN frequency range. The return loss at the combiner output port (1) was greater than 18 dB and the input port (2 and 3) isolation was greater than 22 dB. The results show the asymmetric combiner to be a good candidate for high-efficiency power combining of two or more SSPAs needed to achieve the 6 to 10 W required by space communications systems of future NASA missions