Derated ion thruster development status

Abstract

A 30 cm diameter xenon ion thruster is under development at NASA to provide an ion propulsion option for auxiliary and primary propulsion on missions of national interest. Specific efforts include thruster design optimizations, component life testing and validation, vibration testing, and performance characterizations. Under this program, the ion thruster will be brought to engineering model development status. The activities and preliminary test results to develop a 30 cm engineering model thruster are discussed