Electrical Propulsion

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Ion propulsion is a new technology that has been fully tested and implemented in experimental space craft. Research in to this unique type of propulsion began in 1950s. Commonly referred to as electric propulsion, ion propulsion system are particular types of electric propulsion. The most noticeable difference between a fully loaded conventional rocket and an electric propulsion system would be the mass of fuel required to produce thrust. While conventional chemically fueled rocket require millions of kilograms of propellant, ion propulsion system require only a small amount of propellant by comparison. Also all electric engines are highly efficient and reliable, making them excellent choices for long, unattended operation. One of the most applicable areas for electric propulsion is space exploration. The space craft designated Deep Space 1 was launched by NASA on October 1998. The purpose of space craft was to test twelve different experimental technologies; one of which was the ion engine developed under NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness program or NSTAR program. The engine was, therefore, referred to as NSTAR engine. The mission was an unprecedented success and spurred further study into the new technologies that may arise through ion propulsion.

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CHAPTER 2 DEEP SPACE 1 MISSION

An experimental probe launched on October 24th 1998, and designed to test twelve advanced space craft and science instruments technologies that may be used on future inter planetary missions. Deep Space 1, the first mission in NASAs New Millennium Program, is powered by an ion engine known as NSTAR, a type of Xenonion propulsion system. Similar systems have been used for station keeping by some satellites for a number of years, but the Deep Space 1 ion drive is large, more efficient, and has worked larger than any previously flown. In fact, DS1s engine has accumulated more operating time in space than any other propulsion system in the history of space flight. Among the other devices and techniques successfully tested during the probes primary mission were an autonomous navigation system, a miniature camera and spectrometer, an ion and electron spectrometer, a solar energy concentrator array, and experiments in low power electronics. DS1s primary mission lasted two years and included a fly by of the three kilometer wide asteroid 1992KD on July 29, 1999. An extended mission culminating in an encounter with comet Borrelly began in September 1999 but was soon threatened by the failure of the crafts most important navigational instrument, its star trucker, which enabled DS1 to orient it self relative to Stellor patterns. Rather than abandon the project, NASA engineers uploaded new software to turn on on-board camera into a replacement star trucker, despite major differences between the two devices. It proved a valuable fix on September 22, 2001, DS1 flew fast Borrellys nucleus at a distance of only 2200km, snapping 30 or 50 superb black &White photos and collecting data on gases and dust around the comet.

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Fig 2.1 View Of ion engine on Deep Space 1

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CHAPTER 3 RISKS ASSOACIATED WITH THIS TECHNOLOGY

The following key risks were addressed by the NSTAR project as part of ground testing and during the flight of the ion propulsion system on DS1:

i.

Adequate engine life- Prior to the NSTAR project, no ion engine intended for

primary propulsion had ever been successfully operated for its full design life.

ii.

Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) of solar electric propulsion (SEP)

space craft- The low thrust nature of SEP, together with large solar arrays, makes GN&C sufficiently different conventional Deep Space space craft that this is a significant risk area.

iii.

Mission operation cost- SEP systems require the propulsion system to operate

continuously for long periods of time, leading sum observers to project that a standing army of propulsion and power engineers would be required to operate this space craft, resulting in high mission operation costs.

iv.

Space craft contamination by the SEP system- Slow erosion of the engine results

in a non-propellant efflux from the thruster that could contaminate sensitive space crafts surfaces.

v.

SEP impacts on Science instruments-The charge-exchange plasma generated by

the operation of the SEP system is easily detected by on-board plasma instruments.

vi.

SEP impacts on communication- The charge-exchange plasma generated by the

operation of the SEP system, as well as the primary beam plasma, could affect the transmission or reception of electro magnetic waves.

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Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of the SEP system with the Space craft-

The high- power nature of SEP and the use of strong permanent magnets in the ion

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CHAPTER 4 AN OVERVIEW OF NSTAR

An electron bombardment thruster- a type of ion propulsion system developed by NASA and Hughes Research Laboratories (now part of Boing). It was used to propel the Deep Space 1 probe. NSTAR is larger and specifically designed for Deep Space mission that involve long period of continues thrusting and low levels of sunlight. The NSTAR system is also remotely programmable which allowed NASA to adjust it thrust over the life of DS1 mission.

NSTAR is an acronym of NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness a program started in November 1992. The vehicle for this validation, Deep Space 1, carried about 81.5kg of Xenon propellant sufficient for about 20 months of continuous thrusting and more than enough to propel the probe throughout its entire mission. NSTAR ion thruster on DS1 worked almost flawlessly and eventually changed this space craft about 4.2 km per second (9400 mph).

Fig 4.1 NSTAR ion engine

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The NSTAR program provided a single string, primary Ion Propulsion System (IPS) to the DS1 space craft. The 30 cm ion thruster operates over a 0.5 kW to 2.3kW input power range providing thrust from 19 mN to 92 mN. The specific impulse ranges from 1900s at 0.5 kW to 3100s at 2.3 kW. The flight thruster and power processing unit design requirements were derived with the aid of about 50 development tests and a seriesof wear-tests. The flight-set masses for the thruster, PPU, and DCIU were 8.2 kg, 14.77 kg, and 2.51kg, respectively. About 1.7 kg mass was added to the PPU top plate to satisfy the DS1 micrometeoroid requirements. The power cable between the thruster and PPU was comprised of 2 segments which were connected at a field junction. The thruster cable mass was 0.95kg, and PPU cable mass was 0.77kg. The Xenon storage and feed system dry mass was about 20.5 kg. A total of 82 kg of Xenon was loaded for the flight.

The DS1 machine was extended to continue thrusting profile until the encounter with comet Borrelly in September 2001. By October 30th, 2000 the ion engine had accumulate 6630 hrs of thrusting. The NSTAR engine has already demonstrated a propellant throughput in excess of 30 kg. After the encounter with comet Borrelly, the ion engine will have operated for more than 10,000 hrs

Fig 4.2 DS1 Firing its NSTAR ion engine

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CHAPTER 5 NSTAR IPS-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Fig 5.1 Block diagram

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A block diagram of the four major components of the NSTAR IPS is given in figure. The ion thruster uses Xenon propellant delivered by Xenon feed system (XFS) and is powered by the power processing unit (PPU), which converts power from the solar array to the currents and voltages required by the engine. The XFS and PPU are controlled by the digital control and interface unit (DCIU), which accepts and executes high-level command from the space craft computer and provides propulsion sub system telemetry to the space craft-data system. To accommodate variations in the solar array output power with distance from the sun, the NSTAR IPS was designed to operate over an engine-power range of 500 watt to 2300watt. Discrete levels within this range are often referred to as throttle levels.

5.1 XENON FEED SYSTEM (XFS)

The NSTAR feed system is designed to store up to 81.5 kg of Xenon propellant and provides three flow rates fluorides to the engine: main flow, cathode flow and the neutralizer flow. The XFS controls this flow rates to within 3% over a range of 0.59 mg per second to 2.36 mg per second for the main flow and 0.24 mg per second to 0.36 mg per second for the cathode and neutralizer flows. The flow-rate control and accuracy are achieved by controlling the pressure in the two plenum tanks upstream of the three porous-metal-plug flow-control devices (FCDs) labeled J1, J2 and J3 in figure. The pressure in the plenum are measured with multiple redundant pressure transducers and controlled with two bang-bang solenoid-valve regulators. The main flow is fed from one plenum, while the cathode and the neutralizer-flow lines are manifolded into the other. The FCDs for the cathode and neutralizer are closely matched, so these flows are approximately equal over the entire throttling range of the engine. The flow rate though each FCD is a function of the upstream pressure and temperature; there for, each plenum pressure is controlled by commands from the DCIU, which compensates for changes in FCD temperature two achieve the desired-flow rate. Upstream-latch valves

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serve to isolate the main tank from the rest of the system during launch, while the downstream-latch valves start and stop the flow to the engine during operation.

All of the XFS components except the tanks were assembled into a Xenon control assembly (XCA) and mounted on a single plate. The propellant feed lines exit the XCA, cross the gimbal mechanism and attach to the engine with resistoflex fittings.

The Xenon is stored in a super-critical state to minimize the storage volume. To maintain a single-phase state through out the entire mission, it is necessary to maintain a minimum propellant-tank temperature of 20C. Depending on the propellant load, if the temperature goes below this minimum, the Xenon could go into a liquid state that may result in tank slosh or the injection of liquid into the field system resulting in Xenonflow spikes. To keep the composite Xenon-propellant tank from over pressurizing, the maximum temperature limit is set to 50C. The XFS propellant tank has a volume of 49.2 liters.

5.2 POWER PROCESSING UNIT

Fig 5.2 PPU block dig

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The PPU is designed to take an 80V to 160V input directly from the solar array and supply the appropriate currents and voltages to start and operate the engine. This large input voltage range was designed to accommodate the expected variation in solararray-output voltage resulting from a large variation in space craft-sun distance. The PPU is packaged in an enclosure separate from the DCIU and is designed to be bolted onto the space craft bus in an area were its excess heat output can be thermally radiated to space.

In addition to the high voltage input, the PPU requires a 28V DC input for house keeping power. Both the input power buses have the electromagnetic-interference filters to meet the conductor emission requirements. Enclosed within the PPU is a digital slice board that operates serial-command and telemetry interface with the DCIU, digitizes the PPU telemetry, and controls the PPU power supplies based on the commands from the DCIU.

During normal engine operation, the PPU provides for steady-state outputs. The beam voltage, the accelerator-grid voltage, the discharge current, and the neutralizerkeeper current are provided by four power supplies as shown in figure. They are the beam supply, the accelerator supply, the discharge supply, and the neutralizer supply, respectively. In addition, during engine start up the PPU provides heater power to the cathode and neutralizer heaters and an ignition voltage of 650V to the cathode and neutralizer keeper electrodes. The high voltage input to the PPU is distributed to three inverters operating at 20 kHz that drive these power supplies. The power supply outputs are rooted to internal relays that allow them to be switched to one of two terminal blocks, so that a single PPU could be used to run either of two engines. External power outputs cables attached to these terminal blocks route power to the field joint on the DS1 space craft.

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The PPU contains internal protection for input over-and under-voltage conditions. In addition, each power supply is short-circuited protected. When a short circuit is detected on the beam or accelerator power supplies, internal logic initiates a recycle event to clear this short, based on the assumption that this short is the result of an arc discharge between the electrodes of the ion-accelerator system. The recycle sequence includes turning both supplies off, ramping the discharge current to 4A, enabling both supplies again, and then ramping the discharge current back to the original set point. The PPU also contains a grid-clearing-circuit, which can be used to attempt to clear an electrical short circuit between the accelerator-system electrodes that cannot be cleared by the recycle sequence. This circuit includes relays that place the discharge power supply across the accelerator system electrodes. The discharge power supply is then commanded to a current of 4A, which is sufficient to vaporize small flakes of conductive material that may be shorting the accelerator system.

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Table 5.1

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5.3 DIGITAL CONTROL AND INTERFACE UNIT (DCIU)

The DCIU serves as the data acquisition, control and communication unit in the IPS and is packaged in a box designed to bolt on to the exterior of the space craft. The function of the DCIU include: acquisition, storage, and processing of the signals from the sensors on the XFS and telemetry from the PPU slice; control of the valves in the XCA; control of the power supplies in the PPU (through the spice), and communication with the space craft data-and-control system. The DCIU executes stored sequences that control IPS-operating modes in response to high level commands generated on the ground or autonomously by the space craft. The DCIU is powered by the 28V DC space craft auxiliary-power bus and contains three half-width VME boards that perform the data acquisition, communications and processing, and valve-drive functions. The communications with the PPU slice occur over an RS 422 interface; telemetry commands are transmitted to space craft on a MIL-STD-1553 interface.

5.4 ION ENGINE OR ION THRUSTER

Fig 5.3 Ion engine

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CHAPTER 6
TECHNICAL DETAILS OF ION THRUSTER

The NSTAR engine is composed of several subsystems, including the discharge cathode assembly (DCA), the grids (also called the ion optics), and the neutralizer. Propellant is injected both through the DCA and through a ring of injectors. The DCA emits electrons that are accelerated by the electric field established between the positively biased discharge chamber walls and negatively biased discharge cathode assembly. These electrons ionize the propellant by striking the gas atoms, knocking away one or more of the electrons orbiting an atoms nucleus. The ring-cusp magnetic field created by the magnets that surround the discharge chamber is used to improve the ionization efficiency of the engine by increasing the electrons residence time in the discharge chamber, which is the longer an electron remains in the discharge chamber, the more the opportunity it has to ionize propellant atoms.

Fig 6.1 Ion thruster

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The propellant used in NSTAR is the chemically inert, colorless gas Xenon (atomic No. 54). This is the propellant of choice for most electrostatic engine because of its large mass and high thrust to current ratio and the relative case by which it is ionized.

At the rear of the discharge chamber is the ion optics-a pair of molybdenum grids that are charged to high voltage. The upstream grid, called the screen grid, is maintained at the discharge cathode assembly potential, which in the case of NSTAR is about 1090V above space craft ground (reference) at full thruster power. The 2nd grid, known as the accelerator grid, is biased some 225V, below ground. The grids are each less than 1mm thick and are placed about 0.7mm apart from ach other. Ions created in the discharge chamber enter the holes in the screen grid and are accelerated by the roughly 1300V drop in potential established by the two grids. Ions emerge fro the acceleration grid at speeds in excess of 1,42,000 km/hr (88000 mph). The electronemitting neutralizer that is downstream of the acceleration grid keeps the space craft electrically neutral with respect to its environment by emitting one electron for every positively charged ion that leaves the thruster.

At full throttle, NSTAR consumes about 2300 watts of electric power and puts out 90mN (0.02 pounds) of thrust. This is comparable the force exerted by a single sheet of paper or a clip resting on the palm of our hand. Typical chemical on-board propulsion systems, by contrast, produce greater thrust (450N to 2250N, or 100 to 500 pounds) but for far shorter times.

While the grid erosion from the ion impingement is the leading cause of thruster mortality, an NSTAR ion thruster logged more than 22000 hrs (3 years) of operation in a vacuum chamber without a hitch. Because in thrusters accelerate ions separately from the electrons, these devices have a thrust density limitation (force per unit thruster exit area) that results from so called space-charge effects. However to achieve long life, the NSTAR ion thruster (like other ion thrusters) operates now here near the space-charge current limit.

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CHAPTER 7 METHOD OF OPERATION

Fig 7.1 Working

In a separate tank, negatively charged electrons are forced into the cylindrical chamber where they are accelerated toward the neutral atoms by the magnetic field. This acceleration causes them to bombard the neutral atoms at high speeds. The magnets also redirect the electrons near the neutral atoms in order to increase the efficiency of ionization. The bombardment knocks one electron of the neutral atom, causing a positive charge to be built up within the chamber. Then, a potential difference pushes the positively charged ions out as exhaust. A potential difference is essentially electric field acting between two ends of the chamber that will push the positively charged particles toward the negatively charged end of the chamber. The end of the chamber closest to the main body of the space craft is a positively charged mesh grid,

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and the exhaust end is negatively charged mesh grid. The potential difference between the two accelerates ions through the chamber since the positive grid repels the positive ions and negative grid attracts the positive ions. The negatively charged grid does not stop the ions after the exit the exhaust end of the space craft because the ions are traveling at such a high velocity. The figure below illustrates the charges and directions of the positive ions and the mesh grids at the two ends of the chamber.

Fig 7.2 The charge and direction of positive ions

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However, the process does not end here. Since positive charge is being expelled leaving excess negative charge on the spacecraft, an immediate build up of negative charge develops on the spacecraft. Left unchecked, this would cause disastrous effects to other electrical instrumentation and experiments because the stray electrons may potentially interact with flowing current on other parts of the spacecraft. Therefore, most of the excess negative electrons that are knocked off the atoms are collected into another separate chamber, called a neutralizer, and forced out into the ion stream as shown in the diagram below. This final step produces a neutral stream of particles that has no chance of damaging other nearby spacecraft or onboard instrumentation. The thrust produced by the particle stream is very small, comparable to the amount of downward force exerted by a single sheet of paper lying on a table, since the mass of each particle is small. However, each step in the process occurs continuously, causing a constant acceleration of the spacecraft (Specific Impulse).

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CHAPTER 8 EFFECTIVENESS OF ELECTRIC ION PROPULSION

The effectiveness of electric propulsion depends largely on the mission requirements for a particular operation. Fuel efficiency, or more accurately, specific impulse, plays a primary role in the effectiveness of any engine. Specific impulse is a measure of the amount of change in momentum for the mass of fuel expended. An engine with a high specific impulse does not need as much fuel to reach a given velocity as an engine with a low specific impulse. In this way electric propulsion has a very distinct advantage over chemical propulsion since the specific impulse of a chemical rocket may range anywhere from 100 to 500 seconds while an ion rocket has a specific impulse of 30,000 to 50,000 seconds (Specific Impulse). This is what allowed the NSTAR engine to operate as long as it did.

For missions that require massive amounts of acceleration in a short period of time, like launching a payload from sea level to low earth orbit, the use of electric propulsion would be impossible. At present, chemical rockets would be best suited for such missions because they are able to produce the rapid acceleration that is required. If the mission duration for a particular objective were much longer, however, electric propulsion would be a better alternative. Electric propulsion is able to provide constant thrust, and consequently, a constant acceleration because the ion stream continuously produces a reaction that pushes the spacecraft in the direction of travel. Chemical rockets, on the other hand, thrust for only a short length of time, and then coast along

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their set path, which will not change unless fuel is expended at a high rate to first slow velocity in one direction and then to increase velocity in the new direction. Electric propulsion allows for easy direction changes because it only requires the changing of the ion stream direction at the same rate of thrust. Chemical rockets are unable to provide any type of long-term constant thrust. The NSTAR engine on Deep Space 1 operated for 22 months with only a few short interruptions and increased the velocity of the spacecraft by 12,700 kilometers per hour. This type of velocity increase would not have been possible if chemical propellants were used because of limitations on the amount of fuel the spacecraft can carry.

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CHAPTER 9 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ION ENGINE IN DEEP SPACE 1

Deep Space 1 was NASA's first demonstration of the research into advanced technologies being performed by the New Millennium Program. It was launched from Cape Canaveral atop a Delta II rocket on October 24, 1998. Carried on board Deep Space 1 were 11 separate experimental technologies in addition to the NSTAR ion propulsion system. Eighty-two kilograms of xenon gas propellant were used specifically to fuel the ion engine. Xenon was chosen for two main reasons. First, xenon is an inert gas, so it is not harmful to the internal environment of the spacecraft; it will not corrode or interfere with other subsystems in any way. In the past, cesium or mercury metallic elements were used as propellants because they are more readily ionized, giving them greater efficiency when compared to xenon. However, mission planners and spacecraft designers were concerned about using metallic propellants onboard the already highrisk spacecraft. The second reason xenon was chosen is because it is about four times more heavy than Earth's atmospheric gas, giving it a large enough mass to produce the effective force needed to cause the thrust event.

The xenon ions were accelerated through a potential difference of 1280 volts and attained a speed of 31.5 kilometers per second before exiting the spacecraft. The force this produced was still very small at maximum power usage, but the NSTAR engine operated for a record 16,265 hours while the expected operational life was only 14,000 hours. It was also the first spacecraft to strictly rely on ion propulsion as its sole source of thrust (Oh 59). Overall, the mission was an unprecedented success since it not

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only accomplished its mission and extended mission objectives but also several others as well. Fly-bys of the asteroid Braille and comet Borrelly, for example, both returned excellent photographs and telemetry. After the extended mission was accomplished, the mission planners decided to test the NSTAR engine in modes of operation that were considered either too risky or inappropriate for a primary mission. The additional rigorous testing of the engine was possible since only a mere 22 of the original 82 kilograms of the xenon propellant had been consumed by the end of the extended mission. The tested reliability and performance of the NSTAR ion engine on the Deep Space 1 spacecraft made it a clear choice for propulsion in the 21st century.

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CHAPTER 10 FUTURE APPLICATIONS

Many missions have been identified by JPLs advanced mission planning activity as being either enabled or strongly enhanced by the use of solar-electric propulsion based on NSTAR or derivatives of the NSTAR ion-propulsion technology, including : Comet Nucleus Sample Return, Mercury Orbiter, Europa Lander, Neptune Orbiter, Titan Explorer, Saturn Ring Observer, and Venus Sample Return. In addition, it is anticipated that several Discovery Mission proposals will baseline the use of NSTAR-based ionpropulsion system to reduce the cost of going to scientifically interesting but propulsively difficult destination.

To illustrate the benefits enabled by the use of an NSTAR-derivative SEP system for a Comet Nucleus Sample Return (CNSR) mission, the performance of this mission with SEP for the target-comet 46P/Wirtanen is compared to ESAs chemicalpropulsion-based Rosetta mission to the same comet. The Rosetta spacecraft has an initial wet mass of 2900kg and must be launched on an Ariane 5. This spacecraft takes more than 9 years to reach the comet, arrives with a net spacecraft mass of 1300kg, and is not capable of returning a sample from the comet. The SEP-based CNSR spacecraft, on the other hand, has an initial-wet mass of 1830kg and is launched on a Delta 4 medium vehicle. This spacecraft takes only 2.6 to reach the comet with a delivered mass of over 1300kg and takes an additional 4.5 years to return a sample to earth. Thus, the SEP-based CNSR spacecraft can travel to the comet and return to Earth in less time than it takes for the Rosetta spacecraft to fly to the comet.

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Future deep-space missions will require multi-engine SEP systems instead of the single-engine system used on DS1, with up to four engines operating in at a time and processing up to 10kW of power. In addition, these systems will require a significantly enhanced engine-throughput capability, operation at high power levels per engine, and operation at higher specific impulses. The NSTAR service life assessment activity, which include a combination of long duration testing and analysis of the critical enginewear-out-failure modes, indicates that the NSTAR engine can process a total propellant throughput of 130kg with a low failure risk. Further analysis and extended testing of the DS1 flight-spare engine are planned to extend this throughput capability to larger values.

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CHAPTERR 11 CONCLUSION

The electric ion propulsion system is the next step in mankind's forward progress into space exploration. NASA's goal of the New Millennium Program was to test new technologies that could be used in the 21st century. In the near future, electric propulsion has the potential to fuel interplanetary manned missions to Mars and possibly even missions to the moons of Jupiter. The simple fact that the fuel efficiency of electric propulsion is so great makes it ideal for communication satellites, an area in which electric thrusters are already being widely used. Still, electric propulsion is only a small step forward. On the grand scheme of space exploration, new technologies that would cause the seemingly infallible principles of physics to break down would have to be invented in order for local interstellar travel to be possible.

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