Practical Project

Electric-Field in Ion Thrusters.

In the early modern times in the history of science and electricity,

1
Maxwell discovered that by passing any source of electricity through a wire
caused a magnetic field to be formed around that wire, which later on helped in
discovering electromagnetism. The electric field was pictured by Gauss2 as
imaginary lines of force with regions either full of lines in which a strong electric
field exists, or a region with less lines in which a weak electric field exists. The
electric field regions are affected by the quantity of charges that passes through.
The electric field is expressed by Coulomb’s3 law which states that ‘The force of
attraction or repulsion between two charges is directly proportional to the
product of the two charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them’. The formula of the electric field is expressed as follows:
F
E = ¿ q∨¿ ¿ . The concept of the electric-field, and electromagnetism are used in
the electric/ion thrusters which will be discussed in this research in detail.

Ion thrusters are a form of electric propulsion that are used nowadays in
firing rockets instead of chemical fuels. The usage of the electric propulsion in ion
thrusters’ rocket fuels showed an efficiency of 90%, which is better than the
chemical rocket fuels that only showed an efficiency of 35% .

1
Maxwell (1831-1879)
2
Carl Gauss (1777-1855)
3
CHARLES DE COULOMB (1736-1806)
  The concept of how the ion thruster works:
An ion thruster ionizes the propellant by adding or removing electrons to produce
ions. Most thrusters ionize propellant by a high-energy electron (negative charge)
collides with a propellant atom (neutral charge), releasing electrons from the
propellant atom and resulting in a positively charged ion. The gas produced
consists of positive ions and negative electrons in proportions that result in no
over-all electric charge. This is called a plasma. The Plasma has some properties of
a gas, but it is affected by electric and magnetic fields. Plasma is the building block
for all types of electric propulsion, where electric and/or magnetic fields are used
to push on the electrically charged ions and electrons to provide thrust. The
propellant that is used nowadays is XENON which is an inert, inactive, has high
storage density and a high atomic mass. The properties of XENON helps in an easy
ionization process, with a desirable level of thrust in the acceleration of ions, and
it is perfect for storing in space. In most ion thrusters, electrons are generated
with the discharge hollow cathode by the process of thermionic emission.
Electrons produced by the discharge cathode are attracted to the discharge
chamber walls, which are charged to a highly positive potential of the voltage
applied by the thruster’s discharge power supply. Neutral propellant is injected
into the discharge chamber, where the electrons batter the propellant to produce
positively charged ions and release more electrons. High-strength magnets
prevent electrons from freely reaching the discharge channel walls. This lengthens
the time that electrons reside in the discharge chamber and increases the
probability of an ionizing process.

The positively charged ions migrate toward grids that contain thousands of very
precisely aligned holes (apertures) at the aft end of the ion thruster. The first grid
is the positively charged electrode (screen grid). A very high positive voltage is
applied to the screen grid, but it is configured to force the discharge plasma to
reside at a high voltage. As ions pass between the grids, they are accelerated
toward a negatively charged electrode (the accelerator grid) to very high speeds
(up to 90,000 mph).
The positively charged ions are accelerated out of the thruster as an ion beam,
which produces thrust. The neutralizer, another hollow cathode, expels an equal
amount of electrons to make the total charge of the exhaust beam neutral.
Without a neutralizer, the spacecraft would build up a negative charge and
eventually ions would be drawn back to the spacecraft, reducing thrust and
causing spacecraft erosion.

The ion propulsion system consists of five main parts: the power source, the
power processing unit, the propellant management system, the control
computer, and the ion thruster. The power source can be any source of electrical
power, but solar or nuclear are usually used. A solar electric propulsion system
(like that on Deep Space 1) uses sunlight and solar cells to generate power. A
nuclear electric propulsion system (like that planned for the Jupiter Icy Moons
Orbiter) uses a nuclear heat source coupled to an electric generator. The power
processing unit converts the electrical power generated by the power source into
the power required for each component of the ion thruster. It generates the
voltages required by the ion optics and discharge chamber and the high currents
required for the hollow cathodes. The propellant management system controls
the propellant flow from the propellant tank to the thruster and hollow cathodes.
It has been developed to the point that it no longer requires moving parts. The
control computer controls and monitors system performance. The ion thruster
then processes the propellant and power to propel the spacecraft. Ion thrusters
are used nowadays to keep satellites in place in the space. Future Ion Propulsion

 Future Ion Propulsion.

NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion thruster in operation.

Credits: NASA4

As the commercial applications for electric propulsion grow because of its ability
to extend the operational life of satellites and to reduce launch and operation
costs, NASA is involved in work on two different ion thrusters: the NASA
Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) and the Annular Engine. NEXT, a high-power
ion propulsion system designed to reduce mission cost and trip time, operates at
3 times the power level of NSTAR and was tested continuously for 51,000 hours
(equivalent to almost 6 years of operation) in ground tests without failure, to
demonstrate that the thruster could operate for the required duration of a range
of missions. NASA Glenn recently awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne to
fabricate two NEXT flight systems (thrusters and power processors) for use on a
future NASA science mission. In addition to flying the NEXT system on NASA
science missions, NASA plans to take the NEXT technology to higher power and

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NASA’s SITE
thrust-to-power so that it can be used for a broad range of commercial, NASA,
and defense applications.

Finally, Starlink and spaceX are developing more usages in the ion thruster to
last longer that the ones they fired before. The Starlink satellites, however, will
use a different noble gas: krypton. It has a lower density, so the satellite fuel tanks
need to be larger, and it offers less performance than xenon. Ion thrusters may
become the method of propulsion that carries humans to other planets in our
solar system. The discovery of both electric and magnetic fields has lead to the
creation of many spacecraft that helps in the expedition of our galaxy.

REFERENCES:
1. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html
2. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs23grc.html
3. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/Ion_Propulsion
1.html

Name: Tasneem wael

ID: 2018/05989