Scientific Instruments ra ° S A 4 ® ing Ng re) lon thrusters for electric propulsion: Scientific issues developing a niche technology into a game changer @ Cite as: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 061101 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0010134 Submitted: 08 April 2020 « Accepted: 18 May 2020 « Published Online: 24 June 2020 xk, Holste, P. Dietz, S. Scharmann, et al. COLLECTIONS, @ ‘is paper was selected as Posture wm @ Ss ® ARTICLES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN Ahigh power ion thruster for deep space missions Review of Scientific Instruments 83, 073306 (2012); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4728415 Physics of ExB discharges relevant to plasma propulsion and similar technologies Physics of Plasmas 27, 120601 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5,0010135 lon beam diagnostic for the assessment of miniaturized electric propulsion systems Review of Scientific Instruments 91, 093501 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0010589 jable Leak Detection: ASM 240 resem) vacuum Rev. Sct, Instrum. 31, 067101 (2020); hitps://dol.org/10.1083/5.001013% ‘91, 06101 1© 2020 Authors.Cora seitation.orgournalis lon thrusters for electric propulsion: Scientific issues developing a niche technology into a game changer © Cite as: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 91, 061101 (2020} coi: 10.1063/5.0010154 ) th ) Submitted: 8 April 2020 Accepted: 18 May 2020 + @ Published Online: 24 June 2020 ee ~ K Holste,”” (© P. Dietz,” S. Scharmann,' K. Keil,’ T. Henning,’ D. Zschatzsch,' M. Reitemeyer,’ B. Nauschiit,’ F. Kiefer, F. Kunze,” J. Zorn,’ C. Helliger:’ N. Joshi,” U. Probst,’ R. Thiringer,’ C. Velkmar,’ | D. Packan.” S. Peterschmitt,” K.-T. Brinkmann,” H.-C. Zaunick,” M. H. Thoma,’ M. Kretschmer,’ |") H. 3, Leiter, S. Schippers, K Hannemann, and PJ. Klar’ AFFILIATIONS “nstitute of Experimental Paysies Justus Liebig University Helnrich-Butt-Ring 16, 3592 Giessen, Germany stitute of Theoretical Physics, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-ButFRing le, $5392 Giessen, Germany. *Department of Electrical Engineeting, University of Applied Sciences, Wiesens SONERA, Palaizeau 1120, Francs stitute of Experimental Prysies I Justus Liobig Unive sdynamies an: \4, $5590 Clessen, Germany Jeinvien-Butt-Ring 16, 58892 6 1 Technology, Spacecraft O ssen, Germany tment, Sunsens Scerman Aerospace Center, Insitute of A SIO 73 Goextingen, Germany rasse 1, “Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: | s10{ olsteahys kun-glessence ABSTRACT ‘The transition from o:a acs to sew srace along with increasing commercalization has a major impact on spaceflight, in general, and on electric propulsion (EP) by ion thrusters, in particular. Ton thrusters are nowadays used as primary propulsion systems in space. This art- dle describes how these changes related to wt snack afect various aspects that ate important for the development of EP systems. Starting with a historical overview of the development of space flight and ofthe technology of EP systems, a number of important missions with EP and the underlying technologies are presented, The focus of our discussion is the technology of the radio frequency fon thruster as a prominent member of the gridded ion engine family. Based on thie discussion, we give an overview of important research topice such ae the search for alternative propellants, the development of reliable neutralizer concepts based on nove insert materials, as well as promising, eutalizer-fce propulsion concepts In addition, aspects of thruster modeling and requirements for test facilities are discussed. Furthe ore, we address aspects of space electronics with regard tothe development of highly efficient electronic components as well as axpects tlectromagnetic compatibility and radiation hardness, This article concludes with a presentation of the interaction of EP systems with the spacecraft © 2020 Author(s. Al article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (hetpfereativecommons.orglicenses/by/4.0)-tips}ido\ org 10 1068/5 0010134 NOMENCLATURE, charge exchange coronal mass ejection custom off-the-shelf conducted susceptibility delayed extraction time-of fight direct simulation Monte Carlo device under test, AHPD advanced electric propulsion platform AEHE advanced extremely high frequency BEI —_deanulet-beamlet interaction BEB binary encounter Bethe conducted emission Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 st o6n0%4 ethos 2020,clectron cyclotron reson! clectron cyclotron resonance thruster electromagnetic compatibility clectsic orbit rising clectse propulsion field-emission electric propulsion geostationary orbit ‘gridded ion engine {general mission analysis tool ‘geosynchronous orbit gigahertz transverse electromagnetic geosynehronous transfer orbit hhelicon thruster high eficiency multistage plasma thruster Hill effet thruster {ion-beam shepherd ‘impulse compensation thrvster {onic liquid ion source specie impulse International Justus Liebig low Earth orbit lager interferometer space antenna low-low satellite tracking liquid metal ion source liquid nitrogen liguid oxygen ‘Monte Carlo collision ‘microelectromechanical system ‘magnetoplasmadynamic thruster neutralizer eathode heater power supply nest generation gravity mission negative high voltage non ionizing energy loss neutralizer Keeper power supply north-south station keeping power control unit positive high voltage particle in cell parallel plate analyzer pulsed plasma thruster power processing unit polytetratlworethylene ‘eda atmosphere electric propulsion radiated emission radiofrequency generator radio frequency ion thruster retarding potential analyzer radiated susceptibility spacecraft single event burn-out single event effect single event latch-up scanning electron microscopy single event transient single event upset small or medhum enterprise stationary plasma thruster Cora seitation.orgournalis secondary star ground total ionizing dove time of fight 2er0 current switching 2ero voltage switching | INTRODUCTION ‘Until recently, the exploration of space had been subjected to strong political and economic constraints due tothe immense costs valved. As a result, space was only accesible to countries that financial and technological resources, The org nization of space missions was the respansibiity of potent space agencies such s ESA, NASA TAXA, CNSA, ISRO, or ROSCOSMOS. of these agencies were manifold. As gov. ‘ental institutions, they also felled societal functions such a in ‘education, as knowledge carries, and in transferring and promot- ing technology. Furthermore, they developed into a large scientific technical, and administrative apparatus. Inthe case of ESA, a mul tional interests need to be accounted for inthe running of the institution and in day-to-day routine "The fands spent by the agencies typically are distributed to a great extend among a few long-established suppliers. Inthe eae of ESA, 85% ofthe budget sn 2017 was distributed to European industy, but only ~64% was dis- ributed to SMES." As a result, a high-tech space community with reliable products has been established from the alliance of agencies and industy, which only to aimited extent was subjected to the laws of the free market. These structures and scenarios ae referred to as “oupsracs” Since the beginning ofthe new millenniurs, how: ver, paradigm shift, which i often referred to as “naw srt,” bat taken place A number of companies have emerged with the aim of carrying out space missions at a fraction of the cost spent before and acepting the isk of ale in space de to shorter development times and cheaper production. This group of companis includes Blue Origin, Rockeiplane Kistler, or SpaceX. to name a few. This has resulted, for instance, in the Commercial Orbital Transporta- sion Services program, which is fnded by NASA with $500 milion to restore US access tothe International Space Station (18S) with the help of private-sector companies as there was no replacement afer the Space Shuttle was decommissioned in 2011 Inrespective of how the established structures Between agencies, cstablished industries, and newly created companies will reform, it can be said that this process will have a significant impact on the space technology sector. We believe that it wil affect all branches of space industry and, in particular, the elects propulsion (EP) sector. There ate azo a number of new companies inthe EP sector— similar tothe case ofthe big launchers—which at aering love cost EP systems for satellites and competing with the incumbent com panies. Many of these propulsion systems focus on smaller satel lites, which are cureently gaining importance, principally due to the low cast ofa rocket launch facilitated by new seas, eg. in the context of mega constellations." Despite the ongoing commercial ation of EP systems, a number of Fequirements, somewhat sits ilar to those of the established chemical systems, have to be met by these propulsion systems, such as reliability, robustness, electzo magnetic compatibility (EMC), radiation hardness, non-hazardous interaction withthe satelite, and energy efficiency In addition, the speed of development, improvement, and adaptation of propulsion Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, sn a5si0%2systems to the conditions ofthe specific mission has to increase reasons of competitiveness, This will only be achieved if suitable test facilities with standardized measurement procedures and vali- ated computer aided modeling ofthe engines are both available or developers. ‘The aim ofthis article isto give an overview of established EP systems and to discuss the impact of sw zc on these matured {evices. In addition, the effects ofthe ongoing commercalization on the boundary conditions necessary forthe development of EP sy tems will be addressed, The focus will be onion propulsion systems, in particular, on the technology of gridded ion engines (GIB) such the radio-frequency ion-thruster (RIT) Hall effect thrusters (HETS) belong to another cass ofon propulsion system and are only brieliy escribed and discussed for comparison, For more detailed in mation on HETs, we refer the reader to the numerous excellent foverview articles and the references mentioned therein, "The arti dle is structured as follows; Since yw race is a change of course in the field of space travel, we first ik to show the chronological devel ‘opment that led to the grown structures of axbseace and how they ft sn withthe new boundary conditions, Section Il therefore givee a brief overview of the history of space travel, which i characterized by the development of chemical igh-thrust propulsion systems, and tuaces the parallel development of EP systems, which have increat- ingly evolved from their niche existence overtime, Based on this, teries of missions will be presented sn Sec. 1! & whose implementa tion or success is or was largely determined by EP. The challenges wwe have identiSed in the field of EP resulting from sts com: Gialization are disused in Sec. I C. The major EP thruster con- cepts are briefly introduced in Sec. Ill, and the basic quantities for describing these thrusters ate discussed in Sec. I! ©. For com parison, references will be made to chemical thrusters. Using the example of the RIT, deeper aspects of ion propulsion will be dis ‘cussed in Sec, IC, The focus om this thruster type has (wo reasons (On the one hand, there are—in contrast to the RIT technology—a number of overview articles about other thruster types, especialy the ‘forementioned Hall thrusters. On the other hand, RIT isa propul- son technology that was developed at the Justus Liebig University ‘of Giessen (JLU) and is therefore also in the focus of our research, activities, Hence, a number af RIT-related aspects that we consider ‘important will be discussed in more detail at appropriate points, The challenges identified in EP are discussed in mare detail n Sec. IV. ‘These comprize the search of alternative propellants (Sec. \), the evelopment of reliable neutralizers with low work function inser, materials (Sec. 1\' 3), neutralizer free thrusters (Sec. ! C), mod dling of thrusters and facilities (Sec. 1V D), test facilities and stan- ardization of test procedures (Sec. IVF), miniaturized thrusters, for smal satellites (CubeSats) (Sec. 1V 1), electronics developments (See. 1V G), electromagnetic compatiblity (Sec. 1 1), radiation, hardness of electronics (Sec. 1V 1), and spacecraft ($C)/BP interac- tion (Sec. 1V"]). An outlook is given in Sec. I, FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF SPACE TRAVEL. TO THE ALL-EP SYSTEM A Brief history of space flight For almost 100 yeats nov, one can speak of space travel ae an independent discipline. I started with the visionary theoretical, Cora seitation.orgournalis work of Tsolkovsky, Goddard, and Oberth atthe bepinning ofthe 20th century and has been followed by Srst experimental sucess, especialy through the work of Goddard, who was the frst to con: struct rocket that succeeded sn breaking the sound barciee 1935," Development work on the Redstone rockets began inthe United States of America (USA) in Huntsville (Alabama) in 1950 and was led by von Braun, Parallel development work an the Alas intercontinental rocket was led by the part of the Air Force." The Redstone rockets have been based on the technology of the Ad rocket, which was developed prior and duing the Second World ‘War by German scientists headed by von Braun and depicted the low point ofthis phase of rocket development, both through its use as weapon and through its production with the help of forced inbouers ‘he works of the period after 1945 were significant influ- enced by the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.” Bath countries poszessed the atomic bomb and hoped for an advan- cage oa deterrent potential to ring this threat to its destination with intercontinental mises, During this heated period, the Soviet Union intially had a technological advantage. Thus, the age of space exploration began with Sputnik, the fist man-made ste- te on an orbit inthe Love Earth Orbit (LEO), on 4 October 1957. Only a few days later, on 3 November 1957, the follow-up mis- sion Sputnik-d succeeded in bringing the fis living creature into conbit, the female dog Laika, Sputnik-2 may therefore be regatded 2 the fist test toward manned space flight as it was controver silly discussed unt then even whether living beings could survive in weightessnes fr a longer period of time, The biomedical data obtained on this mission also contributed sigaificantly tothe suc- cess of the Vostok-1 mission with Yuri Gagarin. Although Sputnik-1 was technically only able to send 2 steady beeping sound toward Fart, it demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the advantage and oul! now reach American tersitory with intercontinental mises. ‘This significantly increased American efforts to clos bis echnolog teal gap. Subsequently, during the development of the Sirs ariicial “American satellite (Explorer 1), the radiation belts, which had been suspected for along ime, were discovered by Van Allen, who ws responsible for the measurement technology on board Explorer 1 Van Allen studied them with regatd to their radiation strength.” Physical parameters such as the Earth's magnetic field andthe rad ation levels from the Sun were determined in follow-up missions. The backwardness ofthe US in the development of space technol- ogy led to the foundation of the National Acronautics and Space ‘Administration (NASA) in 1958. The founder president Dwight D. Fisenhower immediately launched manned space program, the Mercury Project (1958-1963), which was later continued a8 Gem tnt (1965-1966) and Apollo (1961~1972) programs. Despite these increased efforts on part ofthe US, the Soviet Union managed to ‘maintain its leadership. On 12 April 1961, Yost Gagarin was the rst human being in space to circumnavigate the Earth at an alti- tude of bout 300 km with the spaceship Vostok 1. This was only just 4 few months before the maiden fight ofthe American Alan Shep- ardin a Redstone rocket, The Americans subsequently succeeded in learing the backlog. On behalf of von Braun, the Rocketdyne com. pany developed the F-1 rocket engine, a high-thrust rocket motor ‘with 670 tons of thrust (6.7 MN) fr a potential manned journey to the Moon. Only a feve years later, on 21 Joly 1969, Neil Armstrong. and Burz Aldrin were the frst men to st foot on the Moon in the Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, 1 o5s1083context of the Apollo 11 mission. After this up to now most imp. tant event in the history of space travel, the public perception bas faded considerably, Nevertheless, this quieter phase of space travel, which continues to this day, is matked by far reaching develop rents, which include electric spaceflight propulsion systems, espe cially io engines ‘Since the very beginning of modern astronautics, EP was con- sidered an option for spacecraft transportation. "Already in 1906, Goddard speculated that electron acceleration by an electric field sight be utilized for propelling « spacecraft. In 1917, he submit- ted a patent on the ist electrostatic ion thruster, which was issued ‘1920. Tsiolkovsky realized that electricity may be used Co eject particles with large velocity from rocket devices, Between 1918 and 1938, Kondratyuk came up with an idea that may be consid- ced the fist sketch of colloid thruster." The rst more substantial concepts were proposed by Obert, who devoted an entire chapter, entitled Das elektriche Raureschiff (The electric spaceship), to EP his famous text book Wege zur Raumscifahr (Ways to Space ight) published 1929, Between 1929 and 1933, Glushko probabiy built the is electric thruster, an electrothermal version, and tested ston a thrust stand. Shepherd and Cleaver published in 1948/1949 a series of four articles on nuclear thermal propulsion and gave the Seat analysis on the fealty of electrostatic propulsion, recogniz- ingthe necesty of wsing a propellant with large atomic mass and the mportance of beam neutalizaion.”~"” However, they concluded that the minimum acceleration ofa spacecraft caused by EP, which they estimated as 001 g, would render ion thrusters impractical. Fortunately, Spitzer realized in. 1951 that a much lower acceleration (8 10" g) with g = 981 ms * would be sufficient for space appl- cations and feasible. Comprehensive and systematic investigations ‘of FP, in particular ion thrusters, by Stublinger started around 1954 and led to his standard reference text book fon Propulsion for Space Fight published in 1964." In the folowing years, the basic cust types were developed, which have proved to be successful and are sillin use today. These include the elecron-bombardment engines, developed by Kaufman the radio frequency ion engines, developed by Lab; and the stationary plasma thruster (SPT, also known as Hall Thrusters), developed by Morozov. ‘The development of space travel has alays been and still ta fection of the technica possiblities ofthe respective epoch and always is connected with scientific, politcal, military, and economic objectives. After the race in space had ended with the moon landing ofthe Americans atthe time ofthe Cold War, civil 1, coms cial and sient interests of space travel began to develop in addi- tion to the mulitary one, Nowadays, economic aspect have became main driving force and commercial aspects play a major roe in space travel. Scientific and technical developments are increasingly aimed at optimizing elciency. Solar cells became more and more powerful through the use of IN-V compound semiconductor tech- nology. ie. theyachicved higher electrical efficiencies while simlta- neously increasing their radiation hardness. Bete solar technology increased the amount of electrical power available on a satellite This increase enables the rather witmphal advance of EP systems Since the thrust T of a propulsion system is composed of the product ofthe ejection velocity and the mass of propellant emitted Per time interval mie. Te vq th, @ Cora seitation.orgournalis increasing the ejection velocity will save a certain amount of pro- pellant for the same thrust. Achievable ejection velocities in EP are About 10 times higher than in chemical propulsion, A sstelite that, i electrically propelled can therefore get by with less propellant, which leads to a significant cost saving, on the one hand, since {his propellant does not have o be carried fom Earth into space. (On the other hand, requiring lese propellant increases the payload ratio, ie, an electrically propelled satellite can be equipped with 4 much larger payload. This relationship, which follows from the ‘Teolkoveky equation is @ and is shown in Fp. 1(0) as an example for three different Av-values ‘8a function ofthe exhaust velocity. Here, my stands for the dry mass ofthe satellite (ithout propellant, mio stands for th total mass of the satelite (including all propellants), and Av stands forthe change fn velocity, which can be achieved by maze ejection with an exhaust velocity i. According to Lab the eshaust velocity of chemical fuels {epends theoretically only on the energy yield, i, the ratio of the enthalpy change Hy during combustion and the rest energy ofthe propellant” wos Te @) results vex = eV Zo, winere w® can be neglected for chem teal thrusters. The energy yield w of chemical propellants is about 10-10 ? and provides theoretical exhaust velocities between 45 kms for kerosene-oxygen and 52 km/s for hydrogen-oxygen rmintures (all components being liguid). These values are signif candy lower due to rel existing combustion thruster efficiencies (about 43 km's for LH2-LOX, Tn the field of chemical propul- sion, there have been a numberof efforts for decades to find high. nergy density materials providing high exhaust velocities. There are older approaches, eg. by triergolie combinations af fuels ¢g the oxidation of berylium via Bell:-H:-O; or hydogen-radical, xo achieve significantly higher exhaust velocities, but these have not yet been succesfully implemented, Other potentially intersting ‘materials are high-nitrogen compounds ocanitrocubanes, metallic hydrogen, atomic radicals, metastable helium, ete, However, many ofthese approaches areata very lov level of maturity and some are of theoretical nature only.” "Thus, for chemical thrusters, the maximum vais about 5 kis. EP systems such a resistojets or arcet, which heat the propellant clectially and then eect i, possess exhaust velocities in a com- parable range,” In contast, highly mass efficient systems such a8 the ion propulsion systems yield propellant exhaust velocities of 30 kr/s~40 kis ICean be seen very cleaty in Fig (0) that espe cially for missions requitingalarge Av. the use of EP is mandatory as such missions are not feasible with chemical propulsion alone. Even north-south station-Keeping (NSSK), ie, maintaining and aligning 8 satellite in its geosyncheonous orbit (GSO), for which Av of only 1 kin/s is needed aver a period of time of about 15 years, benefits significantly from EP. Tc should be noted that we prefer the tem (GSO, which asa special ease includes the geostationary orbit (GEO) Nevertheless, we will occasionally use the term GEO in cases where references we this term. When Using an ion propulsion system for Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, sn o5s10%4Cora seitation.orgournalis FG, 4.) Rat of dy mas oe fotal mas ofa stele m as func fhe exrast veocy ofthe ropelart fa spel contrt Av vale. The aay-shaded ‘0d corespords lo he yp exhaust vlc of coral engnes. fb) Dependence of he vey creer (ee Eq, 2] on the Llamas fora constant sp of 500 chemi propio) anda Sxed dy ass of 100 1g] ard on the lp («cont lal mase of 100 kg any mats of 1090) Thea a 9, which is eimessre of mas fiery, ven n Ea). Thelsp vals cover the rane fe S00 (ypcal fr cherical aroaulsor 05000 yi for & CIE. lly tent iat ti neconoie andtecvicalychalergg io inreave Ay by sally teasing the wena.) Spralg ofa satelite om the transfer 'ogesyrtrenous ‘rit the help ofa ele ruler. Calne were dore wih the sofvare GMAT (ce ao Ret) fora saelit of mass 850k, whch caries 758 kg enon {the propelt The stele lars ate cordnates x= 700 km. =O ken. 2= £209 kT ii vey ev =7.25 ks, Cleon wee made wo an ep of 4200, repesering a gidedion eine and 1600 for Hl engine (pica eg, fan SPT-100) cast ust mode (1 N and 05 N), Pate heal mass of the stele. te el cansuptin ard te abt ofthe salt as urn ote in days. () Aldea a uncton of eaped days or spalrg rom GTO to GSO fortwo erent trust and an 9 of 20 NSSK, propellant savings of about 50% are possible in comparison want to highlight only a selection of space missions using EP (cf with chemical thrusters providing the same Ay. Considering that “able 2). The chronological development of EP systems over the cach satelite and its propellant mass have tobe launched into space last decades as well asthe frequency of their use for diferent types by achemicaly propelled launcher, the use of EP in space is almost of missions is shown in fig >. The frst space application of lee- indispensable in order tobe commercially viable Even highly eff- te thrusters occurted in 1964 with the suborbtal mission SERT-1 cient aunch vehicles such as ArtaneS ean only transport a payload (Space Electric Rocket Test) by NASA, in which ion engines with of afew tons into the geostationary or transfer orbit despite postess-.__ mercury and cesium as propellants were tested for 31 min.” The tng a launch mass of about 725 tons, ic. every kilogram saved in Rusian space probe Zond-2 was launched on Novernber 30, 1964, propellant for satelite operation i of immense importance. from Baikonur Cosmodrome." It was supposed to explore Mars ina flyby mission. However, communication was lost in May 1965 before it reached Mars. Zond-2 had six pulsed plasma thrusters 8. Missions with EP (PPTs) forattude control on board, which were tested succesfully ‘Until 2019, more than 500 spacecrafts were equipped with EP for 70 min ata distance of 5.37 x 10" km ftom arth, The thrusters, {husters, 340 of them in GSO between 1981 and 2018.” Here, we that used PTFE (polyetralluorethylene, known as Tellon™) as the Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 st a5si08s ethos 2020,TABLE | Let’ selected EP missions The hus in is gen pr thst, Cora scitation.orgfouralis Thrait Mission Objective Country Launch Orbit Thruster__Propellnt__(@N)__sp(@)_—Puspose SERT]_‘Technologytet’ US 1964 Sobor Tom He 2400 =~*SCRP et a 56 050 Zond2 Exploration “USSR 1964 Taterplnet. © PPT.—= Teflon, = 210 EP est (Stars) Meteor 110 Meteorology USSR 1971—LEO Hat Xe 20 800—_Oritcontrol Intelsat V2 Communication US 1980 GSO_———=Resistoet__—HNydrazine —045,==«300—_Staton keeping Teltar40l Communication US 1993. GSO_—_Arcjet(MR-S08) Hydrazine 250. —-500._—_‘Station keeping Deep Space 1 ‘Technology test US 1998 Interplanct lon (NSTAR) Xe «20-90-3100 «EP test Artemis Commusiction Europe 2001 GSO Ton Xe 3370 Pte, ad Tapan RIT-10 5 cont aig Kauiman 6 Smal Technology test Europe 2003 Moon all Xe 67 1540_Man propulsion Hayabusa-l Exploration Japan 2003 Interplanct ECRion (40) Xe 3000 Main propulsion Dawn Exploration. US” 2007 Interplanet. lon(3NSTAR) Xe 503100 Main propulsion Goce Earth Europe 2009 LEO Ton (2S) Xe 1-20-3000 Air dag observation compensation Hayabus-2 Exploration Japan 2014 Taerpanet ECRion (410) Xe 103000 Main propulsion USA Technology test Europe 2015 Lt Callaid Ce 00001-15240 Orbit and attitude Pathtinder contzo epiColombo Exploration Europe, 2018 fateplanet Ton (475) Xe 1454000 Main propulsion Iapan (tereury) Uwe Technology test, Germany, 2019 LEO EE? Ga 0001 Several Orbit contol ano ett Russia thousand propellant and provided a thrust of 2 mN (Isp = 410 «) were devel oped by the Kurchatov Institute together with today's RSC gia Zonde2 is vearded as the fist application of EP in space. The Tip indicates how efficiently the exhausted mass is converted into a change in momentum and is defined in Eq. (:). The frst HET was tested on board the Russian meteorological satelite Meteor 41-10, launched on December 28, 1971." Two Tall thrusters (SPT- 60, stationary plasma thruster) developed by the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy running with xenon were vied fr obit contol." ‘One of the frst communication satellites with EP was Intelsat V 2 taunched on December 6, 1980, using a resstojet engine with hydrazine as the propellant for NSSK on GSO." At this time, EP systems for station keeping, in parUevlr,resistoels, began to com pete commercially with chemical propulsion systems. This trend has Continued until today, eg. on the Iridium constellation” Anoth breakthrough for commercial application was the employment of ajets, forthe fist tme, on the Teltar-401 communication satelite 1993, allowing large reduction of propellant mass. At the same time, the importance of HETS, originally developed mainly in USSR, increased, This thruster type nowadays dominates the GSO satelite sector (ef. ig 2) However, also ion thrusters play a significant role ‘i this market, whereas resistojets and arcjets come less important “The sucess of EP for orbit rising from the geostationary rans- fer orbit (GTO) to GSO started at the beginning ofthe new century I particular, the rescue ofthe Furopean-Tapanese communication satelite Artemis operated by ESA contributed significantly to this utilization concept” Tt was launched on July 12,2001, on board of an Aviane 5 rocket. Due toa malfunction of the upper stage, the GTO with a planned apogee of 36000 km could not be reached, Tastead, Artes ended up on an eliptc orbit (390 » 17 487 kas) The apogee boost motor, original supposed to raise the satelite t (G80, was jst able to bring tt a circular orbit at 31.000 km out- side the Van Allen radiation bel, From there, the GSO was reached by employing the four experimental fon thrusters on board. Ope ating from February to November 2002 with a height increase of 20 kim per day, Artemis lew on a spiral orbit to GSO and estab lished its destined postin in March 2003, Two of the ion engines were RIT-10 engines using xenon witha thrust of 15 mN, and the other two were of the Kauiman type with a thrust of 18 mN. About 80%, corzesponding to 6000 of operation ofthis electric obit ais- ing (EOR) maneuver was performed with the RIT-10. Motivated by this success story, ESA started a program called Electra for sup- porting the European satellite industry in developing EP concepts for EOR and station keeping of telecommunication satelite up to 3 tons.” The capability of HETs for FOR was succesfully demon. strated ina similar scenario as forthe GIEs on the ARTEMIS satelite. During the launch of the rst Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHE) system, an anomaly inthe chemical propulsion system also ‘occurred, The chemical propulsion system was intended for a fat passage through the Van Allen belt, Two HETs onboard the AEHF satelite, which should perform EOR tothe target orbit afer passing Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, 1 o5s10%6Cora seitation.orgournalis 1G, 2 (a) Chon ofthe ue of reteset, on tutes, and Hal ruses bebven 1981 and 218 in te geosyetronts orl (Dist of be brute: ype anong me rision pes GSO. LEO, Deep Spce, and smal sees (ata taken for Re. °). cane see i, onthe are han, Hal thst ad lon tasers ave become the prefered EP syste in recent yar. There hes ao been a stad inerease ine se of EP systems ad e recent rein the numberof EP systems eles on smal satalites. The high number f LEO saosin T9878 an bo Yaced Bac he rum consolation. the radiation belts, had to be employed already a an earlier stage ofthe mission.” Another demonstration of the powerful capacity of EP for EOR was thelunar probe SMART. 1,"~" This small spacecrat (aunch mass 367 kg), designed bythe Swedish Space Cooperation, was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on September 27,2005, as a technology demonstrator It was transported tothe Moon on a spiral conbit within 13 months from GTO solely with it solar elecee p mary propulsion system using single HET (PPS-1350), The PP 1350 was operated with xenon asthe propellant (propellant mas of 82.5 kg stored at a pressure of 150 bars) and provided a thrust of 70 mN and an Isp of 1600 + and required 1.2 KW of power. After orbiting the Moon for almost two years, it impacted on the Moon's surface as planned on September 3, 2006 "The use of eletrc thrusters for LEO missions, apart from the Iraiur satelites isnot established yet. However, since the Starlink constellation of SpaceX adopted HETs using krypton asthe prope lant for orbit and attitude control, € may be anticipated that the umber of LEO satellites using EP will soon increase drastically Moreover, there are interesting prospects for CubeSats as demon- rated, for example, by the picoratelite UWE-4 (mass of 1 kg) designed by the University of Wirzburg and launched with a Soyuz rocket in 2018, wing a small eld-effect electric propulsion (FEEP) Uhuster for orbit control, Another interesting application of BP in LEO is given by the GOCE mission where EP was used for atmo spheric drag compensation.” The low dying ESA satellite in a sun-synchronous circular oxbit t 255 km was launched on March 17,2008, and deorbited on October 2, 2013, Its goal was to map the Earth's gravity ied in detail sing accelerometers. The continuously operating ion propulsion system compensated the ai dag in thelow orbit without vibrations, allowing the high-precision measurements tobe performed. The EP system consisted of to QinetiQ Kaufman ‘ypeion thrusters operated with enon (40 kg), producing areal time adjustable theust between mN and 20 mN ‘Another important application field for EP ate deep space mis- sions for exploration and fundamental research, Te fist mission of this type was Deep Space 1 in 1988, which besides technology tests encountered and observed the asteroid (9968) Braille and the comet, 19P/Borelly."” One ofthe mest important mission goals was the test of the NSTAR (NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness) ion engine providing thrust of 20 m-90 rN, which was ignited ‘mote than 200 times and run in total for mote than 16.00 h, con. suming 72 kg of xenon. The proven reliability ofthis thruster was crucial for the decision to use it forthe deep space mission Dawn “The NASA space probe Dawn was an exploratory mission to the asteroid belt for investigating the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres" Dave i still he only spacecraft entering orbits around two celestial odes besides Earth, Tt was lanched on September 26 2007, with aDelta rocket, Alter reaching the second cosmic velocity the three NSTAR xenon ion thrusters were ignited. The advantage of EP or this mission wa the precise maneuverability allowing to asist Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 authors) 2020, 1 o6st007the insertion inthe orbits around low-gravity objects and chang- ing obits around them.» For the frst time, NASA used EP for an exploratory mision. Silat missions using EP for exploration were the Japanese sample return missions Hayabusa-1 and Hayabusa 25°" Hayabusa-1 was launched in 2003 to visite asteroid Itokawa In addition, here, the precise control of the high speciic impulse of the four ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) ion thrusters (410) was a big advantage. The retom to Earth was accomplished by the EP system alone due toa failure of the chemical thrusters" The follow-up sample-return mission Fayabusa-2 using also four 410 ion thrusters started in 2014 to the asteroid Ryugu where it atrved in 2018." Furthermore, the combined ESA/TAXA spacecralt Bep Colombo launched in 2018 and heading curventy toward Mercury is equipped with a solar EP system consisting of four Kaufiman type thrusters (16 from QinetiQ) as the main spacecraft propulsion sy3- tem." In contrast to the GOCE mission, where th satellite was permanently exposed toa frictional force with the residual atmo- sphere, which ad to be compensated, the ion thrusters on Bepi Colombo will nt run continously but only during certain travel segments between the nine planned swing by maneuvers. Finally, fature formation flights where the pesitons of the spacecrafts involved have to be contolled very precisely willbe an interesting application of EP. Such a mission will be LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) where three satellites will ly in an twiangula formation around the sun with distances of 2.5 x 10° ken between them for detecting gravitational waves at frequencies of less than 1 Hz.” The frequency range to be covered by LISA lies between 10° Hz and 10-' He and is thus outside the frequency range of terrestrial interferometric measuring systems covering the high- frequency range (°1 Hi), which have already recently been able to achieve groundbreaking results through ditect detection of gravita- Uional waves, "Perturbations due to the gravitational forces of ether planets and the light pressure from sun have to be compensated precisely using this antenna approach in spac. In the technology: emonstrating mission LISA Pathjinder by ESA, launched in 2015, cold gas and colloidal thrusters using cesium with thrusts between 0.1 pN and 150 uN have been tested successfully” NGGM. (Next Generation Gravity Mission) isan ESA mission that has been in the preparatory phate since about 2008 snd isa continuation of GOCE goa is the time-resolved measurement of the Earth's gravita ional feld with high spatial resolution ever a period of about 11 years, covering one solar cyee. The method used is low-low satel- lite tacking (LIST), ic, « method of formation Hight of at leat two satellites both in LEO, which are driven by ion engines. In par- ticular, information on the melting of ie layers, variations in sea level and groundwater reserves, and post-seismie changes wil be obtained, Two propulsion topologies have been identified as suit able candidates: on the one hand, a topology comprising engines of two different sizes, one for the compensation of air friction and the other for the other contzol functions. On the other hand, a topology employing engines of the same size forall control fune- tions. The topology used wil Irgely depend on the working flight altitude, on the number and orientation of the engines, and on the ype of LIST formation fight. A potential candidate for the small engines of mixed topology is miniaturized RF engines” Current research activities are addressing the interaction of eval engines regarding their electromagnetic compatibility in cluster operation Cora seitation.orgournalis €. Commercialization of EP and challenges ‘A main handle in successful commercalization of any kind of space technology and, thus, aso of propulsion systems is simply ‘mass eduction, A reduction in mass means lawerlaunch cost and a greater flexibility in choosing an appropriate launch system. Both aspects are thetefore decisive from an economic point of view Elec {tie propulsion offers thi advantage and has become more and more accepted compared to dasscal, chemical, systems. The commer ciaization of EP began in 1982 with the use of rsistoets for GSO NSSK on the telecommunications satellite Intelst-V. Initially, elec- twothermal propulsion systems (eesisojets and ates) dominated the EP sector. but they were increasingly replaced by HETs from the mid: 1960s onwards” Out ofthe numerous EP systems, two types of EP thrusters have proven to be particulaly suitable i terms of| {heir characterises the HETs andthe GIES. While the forme are particularly suitable for classical tasks such as orbital maintenance uc to ther high power-tosthrust efficiency, the GIEs are suitable for long term missions due to ther higher sp, which enables longer ‘operating times based on the same amount of propellant, ¢g, in the context of the GOCE- and the BepiColombo mission.” HETs deliver thruster-to-power ratios inthe order of 60 mN/KW with a ‘hus density of about 30 N/m, while GE deliver only 30 mN/KW and 5 Nim’, respectively." On the other hand, GIEs provide a ce tain exibiltyand can switch between the high-thrusvlow sp mode and the low-thrusthigh-Isp mode so that they can be used for FOR in the high thrust mode and for station keeping (afer teaching the targeted orbit) inthe high Isp-mode, Launching a satelite by com: bining the se of a chemical rocket up toa low orbit and EOR & the final orbit saves a sigificant amount of chemical propellant and thus launch mas, compared to a launch tothe final orbit employ ing « chemical rocket only ‘The resulting reduction in launch costs can be up to 40%. As an example, a spial rise fom GTO to GSO ofa satellite was calculated with the help ofthe open source soft wate GMAT (General Mision Analysis Tol provided by NASA [ck igs 1c) and 1]. The time needed for spiraling up depends on the available thrust ofthe engines and ther Isp value and is in the order of several months. HET have a slight time advantage over (GIES in that they take slightly less time to spiral up, But this is at the expense of the amount of propellant needed. Thrusts of 05 N and IN were assumed in the GMAT calculation, Such thrust values may be achieved by operation ofa theuster cluster consisting of two Tange thrusters. Operating a cluster can be challenging also fiom the eletrieal performance point of view. for instance, de clectromagnetic compatibility isues, which ae discussed in detail in See. V1. ‘Employing EP forall relevant mancuvers in space due to its low propellant consumption, significant launch mass reduction, and extended operational time isthe obvious conclision and common practice fr atleast two decades now. Bocing pioneered in this eld ‘wth its 702 satelite bus using four onboard xenon ion propulsion systems (XIPSs) and providing the fst all-electric satelite system for NSSK.” Since there has been no market interest in large and therefore expensive satellites that operate exclusively with EP. ie also reach theit target orbit with EOR, Boeing introduced its 702SP (mall platform) satelite bus in 2012, The 7025P is able to perform allzelevant maneuvers, especially EOR, with EP in space, This results ina dey matter content of about 80% compared to conventional Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, st ossionplatforms whose payload share i only about 40%-60%"" This con- cept has been accepted by the market and has led to.a number of orders ofthis platform and corresponding missions in space, for stance, the ABS-3A and Futelsat 115 West 8 satlits launched tn March 2015 ina stacked configuration on a Falcon 9, Other ket players have followed this approach and are developing all EP systems themselves. In Europe, the trend is driven by the Electra program, which isa public-private partnership between ESA, SES, snd OHB for developing small to medium sized fall EP satelite platforms.” Tn addition to these two main propulsion systems (HET and GIB), there are a number of new propulsion concepts that currently are entering the market. These novel thruster types at often tailored to the needs of smaller satellite systems (CubeSats and small satellites for constellations). Furthermore, there are new mission scenarios, eg, the megaconstellations, in which a very large number of small satellites operate in a network An example isthe OneWeb projec constellation of bout 720 suelites in LEO to provide global broad band internet acces, Similar projects with similar objectives ae also planned by SpaceX (Starink projec) and Amazon (Kuiper project) All these satellites wil have electric thrusters for atitude and altitude control. For Stalin, the planned number of satellites isn the order of about 40 000 (in the fnal phase of the project according to illo, permits for 4125 SpaceX sateltes have been applied for with the Federal Communications Commission 20 far), and for Kuiper, about 3000 satelites ae tobe deployed Currently (as of Decem ber 2018), about 76 satelites are already in orbit as part of OncWeb and StarLink [e.g 310], Cora seitation.orgournalis With this large number of satellites in LEO, aspects of the avoidance of space debris or the asessment of risks of potential satellite collisions must aso be considered.” Recent studies est rated a high probability of atleast one satelite collision during 5 years of operation (5% for OneWeb and 45.8% for SpaceX). Recent studies also imply thatthe risk fr collisions in GEO is sg cr than previous findings have claimed. Accordingly ‘satellite in GEO with a 1 em objects ikely to oceur every 4 years.” Already now, a number of about 19000 possible col- lsion partners ate monitored [ef Fig 3(0] with the total mass o electronic waste amounting to about 7700 tons. Space debris poses a risk in that, according to Kessler tipping point might exis from which a chain reaction of eosin processes Between debris parti- les is ikely to occur. leading to an associated exponential growth sn particle density.” This tipping point is defined bya critical popa- Intion density of srap particles. There area number of approaches to get rid of space debris, but none has been succesfully implemented Yet" One approach is the use ofthe ion beam af an EP system co send a disused satellite into a so-called graveyard orbit by means ‘of momentum transfer, also known as the ion-beam shepherd (IBS) concep [ef ig. 3/0)" The IBS concept is often refered to a8 2 contactless debris removal method. However, this term is somewhat risleading because there is contact between the thruster plume and the debris object. The bombardment ofa debris object with ions leads to sputtering processes, Sputering takes place on the atomic level (See Sec, IV"). However, it cannot be ruled out that larger fragments of the debris object may be broken off in the proces Which can then become dangerous as collision partners and may FG, 3. Satelite rts (s of December 218) ofthe One (nol ard Stank rjc sales in rit (12 in otal 3 of whch are aut of service. One sans KU + Ka band conan of 720 stltes 18 crcl eal planes alan allude of 120 kn. Stan i alo planned asa Ku » Ka Bard constlatn, here win 425 sates, The eal lanes are rare comple, te Sit 1600 satelite wil be Gbved even ave" 22 eras, an he ih luce wl be 150k Ih a scand ‘wove, 2025 satelite wt be Gta at sgt eer ates (Ate a futher rorya cn e feud n Re © andthe references there). As of Al 1, 202, (nedied ha lunened 34 more satlites, and trink has auened 240 rove sates, The rages wer created using ne onl al! te Cale rk Ob Vszazation wes (e) Corcepl of space dears removal eneloyng th ion bear sesh (BS) concep The debs obj wil be puedo fsa by narenum ander rm inpiraira ars generate non an tse ofan exert stelte. The ts of the IT impale arse fuser fas ibe corpensated weh an aditoral 2st (IT, irpule compensation true to keep aed dare between he sila ad ihe doris bet) Number of ackable objects nt. Data ako fo Oral Debris ‘usr News (NASA, Vl 2, sue 1, Febuary 208, The grees nde aaj tat have been fil calaoge by he US. Space Suvelance Neto. Aso ince ae wo relvenecen’calstane On lends 1, 2007 China dlbertalydetoyea are fis wester aes win apoclse unknown Sein reeulngin he Tagest esse space debe prices oct, Abe wo yar ate an February 10, 20, het casino wo conmusiestons sales ur (US) and Koss (Russia ocevted, ao wih a sndcannereace ne ruber f sap pars, Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 sn o5s1009 ethos 2020,mall that tracking from the Earth's surface will not be possible, The literature on the TBS concept mainly deals with the fluence ofthe sputter products on the performance af the impulse transfer engine.” So far, ara assessment considering the forma tion of larger fragments has not been performed. Nevertheless, the BS method has its advantages because st does not require co plicated docking maneuvers and will be applicable, if the amount Of larger fragments released by sputtering processes is suficiently low of can be entiely avoided” A risk assessment of TBS ean be performed by modeling the sputter interaction between ion bears and space debts, Detals on modeling can be found in Sec. 1D and frther information on sputtering is given in Sec. 'V ). The TBS method is even considered a potential method to deflect a asteroids, which are on collision course with Earth Due to the low momentum transfer, however this method wil be very time consuming, bombardment times for a significant change of course, especialy in the case oflarger asteroids, willbe in the range of several [BP systems willhave to be produced in large quantities o meet the great demand, eg, for mega-constellatons. The competition will ge tougher at many small spin-offs with successful products market (exretaox, ExoT rai, AvantSpace ete). Despite this commecializaion, EP systems ae sll the subject of extensive research, even on a fundamental basis.” The reasons are manifold (EP systems ate only partially scalable. Typically, the eff ciency decreases sigaificanty with smaller size so that new concepts may have to be used sn the long rn, when minis \orizing EP systems farther, Currently, most ofthe new con. cepts are still ata low level of technological maturity, Thie hhas consequences, especially for CubeSats and other small satellites, which have very low electrical power reserves and cannot he operated with conventional engines. On the other hand, there is a need for high power engines with a long lifetime used for larger spacecrafs and interplanetary sions. This places enormous demands on the vacuums fail ities needed for testing and qualification in terme of size and pumping speed and also on the available peripheral technologies such as high-performance power supply unite a+ well as on an efficient temperature management, since "unavoidable power losses in high power engines can lead to significantly higher underired heating of the EP system. (i) All ypes of EP systems require specialized electronics driving them, Design of sch space electronics is governed by other requirements than that of electronics for terrestrial applications, Space electronics i restricted in electric power budget and must be particulary efficient to avoid Joule heating. Furthermore, the high demands placed on space electronics require extensive development and testing. Con. sequently, space electronics components are among the most expensive components of EP systems. It therefore maket sense to tive for modularization here, which makes sible to supply a larger number of engines with a small number of standardized modular electronic components (48) During the spiraling from the GTO to target orbit, which, ‘sing EP, takes long time depending onthe available thrust, the satelite hat to cros the Van Allen belts where ite perma. ently exposed to hard radiation, This radiation may damage Cora seitation.orgournalis the satellite's letronice, so alletricl components musthe ‘built adiation-hard and terted accordingly in the laboratory (i) Hlecrical components of ion thrusters and the thrusters themelves are sources and sinks of electromagnetic rad ation that can interact with other electronics of the ste: lite In order to rule out any danger to the satellite, 1on chrusters must be tered with respect to their electromag: rete compatibility (EMC). Since these engines only fane- tion under vacuum conditions, special requirements forthe tert envionment have tobe met in order to ensue thatthe measurements comply with existing standards, (9) Ton engines use the noble gus xenon as the propellant ‘According tothe German Federal Institte for Geosciences and Natural Resource, the sanual production in 2017 wae about 72 ons (12200 m") of enon, In view ofthe increasing demand for spac wave shis quantity vllnot besufcent oF will drive the price up. Currently, thee are about 63 plants ‘worldwide with xenon production capacities and about 21 tes for xenon pusifation”” Even additional plants will hardly cover the demand, The mai ration of enon in aris 400 ppb. If 1000 ton of ir were liquid, only 400 g xenon say be produced (at 100% efiieney). The search for vead- iyavalable efficient and cost-effective alternatives to xenon has therefore become of fundamental research interest in the EP area (8) Anneatralizer isan elementary component of any EP system. 1 supplies an eletron current equivalent to the positive ion current to preven the satelite fom being charge. The most common implementation isthe hollow cathode, equipped with a zo-aled insert materi, which hat lowe electron ‘work function, Unfortunate, despite the already quite low work unetion of bout 6 eV-28 eV, high temperature are required to ensutesulicient thermionic mission, cypialy 1000°C and higher. Thee high temperatures aze technically challenging, Netraizers are among the most falure prone components of EP systems, mainly due to the high the thal loads The search for novel materials with even lower ‘work functions and the development of EP approaches with inherent neutralization are constant research themes hee, ‘As can be seen, there ate a number of aspects that illustrate that ‘here are still a varity of unresolved issues inthe field of EP. The eld is also imteresting in that it Lnks a large number of eillerent sreae and is truly interdicciplinary. The plasma needs atomic phys Jeal quantities (excitation and ionization cross sections) in order to bbe described eutficienty accurately by global rate models or particle in-ell (PIC) methods. Alternative propellants on a molecular basis can be analyzed in terms of their suitability by means of various analytical methods, such as time of light mass spectrometry. Inthe ‘ase of reactive alternatives such as iodine, chemical material inter sctions must be taken into account that do not occur in the cae fof the noble gas xenon currently used. Material aspects also play fn important role in the field of neutralizer development and alco, for the development of radition-hard electronics Electrical engi neering plays & major role in the investigation of EMC aspects, This interplay of physics chemistry, electrical engineering, and materials science ensures that electric space propulsion systems are constantly valving Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, st osti0110‘One may say that EP is nowadays commercialized. At leat in the cave of megaconstellations for LEO, the propulsion «ystems will become mass products. The transition from a niche technology to a technology employed in large numbers requires rethinking in terms of production costs (eg, using components offthe-shel and resources (eg, availabilty of Xe asa propellant) as wellasin terms of time to markel of EP products (ie, shorter and cheaper qualification, for epace). These challenges also concen the aspect of standardiza- tion of test systems, diagnostic procedures, and their analysis. They willbe considered inthe discussion of these topics. Il SPACE PROPULSION SYSTEMS A Thruster types Flectric space engines have evolved out of thelr shadowy exis tence due to the abovementioned strong points’~'” ‘There are a Cora seitation.orgournalis large number of eifferent types of EP systems, some still at 2 con- ceptval level, others already at a very high technological maturity level, and a few already in use in space (cf x. 1). These diffrent propulsion systems have often been developed for special mission scenarios or maneuvers. Nevertheles, three main types of thrusters ‘an be distinguished: 1. Electrothermal thrusters "The gaseous propellant is heated electrically, and the thrust {is generated by thermodynamical expansion of the propellant with, the help of a nozzle, Thruster of this type aze simple in design: however, they do not provide high exhaust velocities of the pro pellant, Classical electrothermal thrusters are the resistojet and the fret [tee ‘igs (2) and (5). The resistojet increases the exhaust velocity simply by heating the propellant through an electric heater clement based on Ohmic heating. In the arcjet, the propellant is, passed through an are discharge. Collisions between propellant FIG.4,Sehemstedavings af he msin EP ssa (eis) ax () Hal trust () HEMP suse () ECR thus raiofequerey inva )elecron beabarement trust ane FEED, Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010198 ethos 2020, st o6rt0-11and discharge particles heat the propellant, yielding higher exhaust velocity, 2 Electrostatic thrusters ‘The generation of thrust is concatenated by electrostatic id acceleration of the charged ion, Typically the ionization of the pro pelant and the acceleration can be regarded as two separate pro ceses, ie, a tworstep proces. In the case of GIEs (Pits 40 and Sip) the two steps can be ditty assigned to the spatial segments ofthe thrusters The plasma is generated om the propellant in the ‘ischarge vessel, and ions aze extracted from the plasma by means ofthe gid system, Ina HET [hig 1(0] ora high elicieney mult slage plasma thruser (HEMPT) (Fig (0), a crossed elecsic and ‘magnetic force is used to generat a plasma discharge from the pro- plant, whereby the acceleration of ions occurs in the lecse eld ‘We would lke to emphasize that some authors assign the HET to the clas of electromagnetic thrusters due to the primal thrust tans- fer mechanism, which results in a thrust T given by 7» fu where fuss the Hall current and B is the magnetic field strength induced by the magnets ofthe HET. Nevertheless, we follow the as- sification given by Goebel and Katz, who stress the electromagnetic acceleration ofthe ions” ‘The discharge takes place in an one-side ‘open channel (linear for HEMPT and cylindrical fo HET), in which the anode and the propellant inlet are located atthe bottom end Electrons from the nevtralizer cathode are attracted by the anode potential ignite the plasma, and sustain the discharge inside this Channel. The plasma i positively biased by the anode voltage, which defines (neglecting the offet by the employed plasma potential) the jon energy. The accleration takes place in a region close tothe exit plane of the discharge channel, which characterized by potential G:op oceurving from the neutraizer’s electrons, establishing avietal cathode in font of the channel. We have subsumed I18Ts and high efficiency multistage plasma thrusters (HEMPTS) under this thrust class due tothe underlying physical processes and their sma Both, HET and HEMPT, exploit a crossed electric and magnetic held topology to generate Hall current loaps forthe electrons within the discharge region, providing a highly ecient ionization of the pro pelant. The main diference between the HET and the HEMPT is the periodic magnetic cusp field of the HEMPT, which enhances the plasma confinement in the discharge channel. Asa consequence, HEMPTs provide higher plasma thrust densities and less channel erosion than HETs." The operation prinipl of colloid emitters FEEDS [by +] fsbased onthe formation and extraction ofa beams of charged droplets or ions fom a liquid propellant by the applied electostatie field 5. Electromagnetic thrusters Permanent magnets are uted to generate the static magnetic Geld inthe cate of a HET and of a HEMPT. In contrast the mag- etic field of a pulsed plasma thruster (PP2) is generated by the (arc) discharge itself, resulting in an accelerating j x B Lorentz force, Therefore, ionization and acceleration cannot be regarded a8 separate processes. Another variant is the magnetoplasmady- ‘namic thrusters (MPDTs), MPDTs can be interpreted as a power fl variant of an arcet, im which the arc discharge is of such an, ‘intensity thatthe propellant isnot just heated thermally but also is, Cora seitation.orgournalis fonized to ahigh degree and accelerate bythe electromagnetic filds sesociated wath the discharge, Itcan therefore be concluded that, MPDTs only perform efficiently at relatively high electrical power levels; otherwise, the electromagnetic fields, which are generated by the are are not sufficiently intense to accelerate the propellant. Applied field MPDs (AF-MPDs) provide an external magnetic ld to increase the efficiency of the thruster Engines without aisting ‘magnetic fields re named sel-feld MPD (SF-MPD), We also assign, the electrodeless magnetic novale ECR thruster [see Iie] to this thruster type due tothe lack of accelerating electrodes, There- fore, the generation of thrust of this engine is caused by a complex, Interplay of processes inside the plasma, resulting in an acceleration, of the plasma by ambipolar fields, which i until now not entirely es ‘We do not provide a detailed description of all individual thruster types hete and refer the reader—to beside the already mentioned—to other relevant literature." All three main thruster types have in common that electrical energy is converted nto kinetic energy of the exhausted particles to generate or increase {hrust. This energy conversion procest differs im ellciency for the Ahree types and ie also very different in terme of the complexity of the technical implementation, For an overview, important thruster parameters are summarized in Tole I "Additional relevant parameters to describe EP systems are Aefined in Sec, 1! 5, and detail about GIES are provided in See. 1! CA special type of thruster bated on the ECR principle i preeented snSee. 1) B. Basies of electric propulsion ‘Under the assumption that EP systems can provide the neces- sary thrust ina mission scenario, two criteria are ultimately decisive for the selection of the appropriate engine type. The fre crteion is the electrical power avaiable onthe satellite and thus the thrust-to- power ratio of the propulsion system. Higher thrust with the same ower means faster travel in space, and thus, ths key parameter correlates with time efficiency. The second criterion isthe specific impulse Isp of the propulsion system, The epeciic impulse isthe achievable change in momentum Ap per ejected mass Am. The can be extended (in infinitesimal form) to aot “ BP i ® ‘The Isp comesponds to the generated thrast per temporal mass output and i equivalent (othe velocity va of exhausted partes ‘sully, tis expression is divided by the gravitational accra tion g = 9807 mist This gives the Lop the ut second. which is used in all unit systems, Sources of error du to diferent unit sy tems, whereby satellites have already been damaged, for example, the lots of the Mats Climate Orbiter, are excluded hy this defini tion of the specie momentum.” Suc the thrust T is defined as ea he 1p itis notation corresponds tothe exhaust veloaty of the propellant divided by the gravitational acceleration. The discus son about the usefulness of referencing the epeciic impulze to the ‘weight of the emitted propellant seems to be an ongoing mater Aispute in rocket science. We refer the interested reader to Refs, 120, and 12 where this somehow diverting topic is discussed in more etal Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010128 ethos 2020, st ostior12Cora seitation.orgournalis TABLE I Charatisties of man EP taser ype, Daa tken fom Rt 5 25, 68, 05, and 13-18, For reasons fea, we hav combined he HET and HEMPT as wol 2 MPDT apd EGR io en clas, since oy exh sim peermarces. shuld aka be marion hat Bere ae ited versors of hese engines, 09. a GIE can be bated ona plasma goreraton ung he ECR ipl. nthe case of he ECR eng itd ner, wo rtf an elcodekes vata, 2s desered in Sec. The ‘species paramere nollie ohstrs th ighthetage, The gven rages paar can fever be much wider enya sgt parameters wold sugges The local oieerey noe titi dene 9 ape ectoliemal Hestotemmal —‘Eonie ‘leone ——ecomagane ltomeganic fo vao-tso oan 1000000 astow tomatoe Efficiency m. (%) 30-110" 25-60 30-90 20-70 5-30 20-70" brastopower 450-700 150-600 20-250 150-300 50-200 150-500 Gpeationatine Meath Meath Yeus Meath Yews Weds Propetasts NM fcne, Ha Nu Bp, REA x, A and PTFE An Xe thy and : Towlevalof D Highipand igh Single deve and High pan ih complexity High thrust high efficiency power-to-thrust-ratio solid propellant thrust density Towibna ‘Hho Towne snd Drawbick Varylow ip Lowscency —Stnaganddegnceand——Lowelideny igh power’ fonpcxPPU thal ereton iotemat Egoinn (9) dev atta inte ect cotton of dene enya 10 ee cherie Ba) High Isp values correspond to a high mass efficiency, ie, less propellant is needed forthe ame thrust, However, these high values ‘ce typically accompanied by a higher electrical power input so that, the thrust-to-power ratio usually decreases, The choice ofthe appro- priate propulsion system is, therefore, always trade-off between the svatabl electseal power and the amount of propellant that can be Uwansported. For high Isp-values, this power is mainly deter the jl power Pys ofthe exhausted ion beam given by dinky 6) Pa A For the thrust, this results in the useful relationship BP pe In principle, all essential mission parameters concerning the EP #9 tem can be derived from Eqs). For example, increasing the thrust, without changing the mass output m leads to an increase in jet ower. Assuming that a satelite seth a dry mass of one ton and 500 kg propellant ie sent out with a 20 KW engine with an lp of 5000s, 2 Av of about 20.3 km/s can be achieved (witha correspond- ing thrust of about 0.8 N). This would allow a mission tothe outer planets ofthe solar sytem, fone now wants to travel to more distant Sestinaions, one could of course increase the amount of propel: Fant bat due tothe logarithmic dependence of vin the Tsolkovsky ‘equation, the increase in Av is less than if one increased the actual Isp value [ef Fig 1(b)]. However, the jet power is linked to the Isp © Aon poe eine inthe spc impu. There, esl tcc higher ae, by the relation Py slp so thrusters of ahigher power class would have tobe used. An increate inthe Isp can be achieved for example, with GIES with Agri ion optics" ‘A number of additional characteristic quantities are defined for jon thrusters Since the theus mainly generated by the amount of exhausted ions rn, the introduction of a mass utilization ffciency ‘nw. the proportion of ions emitted in relation o the amount of propellant admited ri, is easonable tw 0 For singly chan applies ged ions and an atomic propellant, the following m= 2H, ® where hy stands fr the exhausted ion beam current, M stands forthe atomic mass, and ¢ stands for the elementary charge. From the point of electrical efficiency, it makes sense to introduce the relation, Pa % o «. the ratio of jet power Pj and total input power Pr provided to the theuster. The total input power is made up of the jet power and the power Py required forion production ®gure 5 shows the thrust to-power ratio az a function of ep for various EP systems and their thrust efficiency according to Eq. (8) In ion thrusters, the ions are Rey Se stom. 9, 011012020 10.1069 010128 ethos) 2020, st ostio113