Ion thruster
An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of
By contrast, electromagnetic thruster ions are accelerated by the Lorentz force to accelerate all species (free electrons as well as positive and negative ions) in the same direction whatever their electric charge, and are specifically referred to as plasma propulsion engines, where the electric field is not in the direction of the acceleration.[1][2]
Ion thrusters in operation typically consume 1–7 kW of
The Deep Space 1 spacecraft, powered by an ion thruster, changed velocity by 4.3 km/s (2.7 mi/s) while consuming less than 74 kg (163 lb) of xenon. The Dawn spacecraft broke the record, with a velocity change of 11.5 km/s (7.1 mi/s), though it was only half as efficient, requiring 425 kg (937 lb) of xenon.[6]
Applications include control of the orientation and position of orbiting
Ion thrust engines are generally practical only in the vacuum of space as the engine's minuscule thrust cannot overcome any significant air resistance without radical design changes, as may be found in the 'Atmosphere Breathing Electric Propulsion' concept. MIT has created designs that are able to fly for short distances and at low speeds at ground level, using ultra-light materials and low drag aerofoils. An ion engine cannot usually generate sufficient thrust to achieve initial liftoff from any celestial body with significant surface gravity. For these reasons, spacecraft must rely on other methods such as conventional chemical rockets or non-rocket launch technologies to reach their initial orbit.
Origins
The first person who wrote a paper introducing the idea publicly was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911.[8] The technique was recommended for near-vacuum conditions at high altitude, but thrust was demonstrated with ionized air streams at atmospheric pressure. The idea appeared again in Hermann Oberth's Wege zur Raumschiffahrt (1929; Ways to Spaceflight),[9] where he explained his thoughts on the mass savings of electric propulsion, predicted its use in spacecraft propulsion and attitude control, and advocated electrostatic acceleration of charged gasses.[10]
A working ion thruster was built by Harold R. Kaufman in 1959 at the NASA Glenn Research Center facilities. It was similar to a gridded electrostatic ion thruster and used mercury for propellant. Suborbital tests were conducted during the 1960s and in 1964, the engine was sent into a suborbital flight aboard the Space Electric Rocket Test-1 (SERT-1).[11][12] It successfully operated for the planned 31 minutes before falling to Earth.[13] This test was followed by an orbital test, SERT-2, in 1970.[14][15]
On the 12 October 1964 Voskhod 1 carried out tests with ion thrusters that had been attached to the exterior of the spacecraft.[16]
An alternate form of electric propulsion, the Hall-effect thruster, was studied independently in the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. Hall-effect thrusters operated on Soviet satellites from 1972 until the late 1990s, mainly used for satellite stabilization in north–south and in east–west directions. Some 100–200 engines completed missions on Soviet and Russian satellites.[17] Soviet thruster design was introduced to the West in 1992 after a team of electric propulsion specialists, under the support of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, visited Soviet laboratories.
General working principle
Ion thrusters use beams of
Ion thrusters are categorized as either electrostatic or electromagnetic. The main difference is the method for accelerating the ions.
- Electrostatic ion thrusters use the Coulomb forceand accelerate the ions in the direction of the electric field.
- Electromagnetic ion thrusters use the Lorentz force to accelerate the ions in the direction perpendicular to the electric field.
Electric power for ion thrusters is usually provided by solar panels. However, for sufficiently large distances from the sun, nuclear power may be used. In each case, the power supply mass is proportional to the peak power that can be supplied, and both provide, for this application, almost no limit to the energy.[18]
Electric thrusters tend to produce low thrust, which results in low acceleration. Defining , the standard gravitational acceleration of Earth, and noting that , this can be analyzed. An
- F is the thrust force in N,
- η is the efficiency
- P is the electrical power used by the thruster in W, and
- Isp is the specific impulse in seconds.
The ion thruster is not the most promising type of
Electrostatic thrusters
Gridded electrostatic ion thrusters
Gridded electrostatic ion thrusters development started in the 1960s[21] and, since then, it has been used for commercial satellite propulsion[22][23][24] and scientific missions.[25][26] Their main feature is that the propellant ionization process is physically separated from the ion acceleration process.[27]
The ionization process takes place in the discharge chamber, where by bombarding the propellant with energetic electrons, as the energy transferred ejects valence electrons from the propellant gas's atoms. These electrons can be provided by a hot
The positively charged ions are extracted by a system consisting of 2 or 3 multi-aperture grids. After entering the grid system near the plasma sheath, the ions are accelerated by the potential difference between the first grid and second grid (called the screen grid and the accelerator grid, respectively) to the final ion energy of (typically) 1–2 keV, which generates thrust.
Ion thrusters emit a beam of positively charged ions. To keep the spacecraft from accumulating a charge, another cathode is placed near the engine to emit electrons into the ion beam, leaving the propellant electrically neutral. This prevents the beam of ions from being attracted (and returning) to the spacecraft, which would cancel the thrust.[13]
Gridded electrostatic ion thruster research (past/present):
- NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR), 2.3 kW, used on two successful missions
- NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (DART mission.
- Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System (NEXIS)
- High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP), 25 kW, test example built and run briefly on the ground
- EADS Radio-frequency Ion Thruster (RIT)
- Dual-Stage 4-Grid (DS4G)[28][29]
Hall-effect thrusters
Hall-effect thrusters accelerate ions by means of an electric potential between a cylindrical anode and a negatively charged plasma that forms the cathode. The bulk of the propellant (typically xenon) is introduced near the anode, where it ionizes and flows toward the cathode; ions accelerate towards and through it, picking up electrons as they leave to neutralize the beam and leave the thruster at high velocity.
The anode is at one end of a cylindrical tube. In the center is a spike that is wound to produce a radial magnetic field between it and the surrounding tube. The ions are largely unaffected by the magnetic field, since they are too massive. However, the electrons produced near the end of the spike to create the cathode are trapped by the magnetic field and held in place by their attraction to the anode. Some of the electrons spiral down towards the anode, circulating around the spike in a Hall current. When they reach the anode they impact the uncharged propellant and cause it to be ionized, before finally reaching the anode and completing the circuit.[30]
Field-emission electric propulsion
Field-emission electric propulsion (FEEP) thrusters may use caesium or indium propellants. The design comprises a small propellant reservoir that stores the liquid metal, a narrow tube or a system of parallel plates that the liquid flows through and an accelerator (a ring or an elongated aperture in a metallic plate) about a millimeter past the tube end. Caesium and indium are used due to their high atomic weights, low ionization potentials and low melting points. Once the liquid metal reaches the end of the tube, an electric field applied between the emitter and the accelerator causes the liquid surface to deform into a series of protruding cusps, or Taylor cones. At a sufficiently high applied voltage, positive ions are extracted from the tips of the cones.[31][32][33] The electric field created by the emitter and the accelerator then accelerates the ions. An external source of electrons neutralizes the positively charged ion stream to prevent charging of the spacecraft.
Electromagnetic thrusters
This article or section appears to contradict the article Electrically powered spacecraft propulsion. for more information. (April 2018) |
Pulsed inductive thrusters
Pulsed inductive thrusters (PITs) use pulses instead of continuous thrust and have the ability to run on power levels on the order of megawatts (MW). PITs consist of a large coil encircling a cone shaped tube that emits the propellant gas. Ammonia is the gas most commonly used. For each pulse, a large charge builds up in a group of capacitors behind the coil and is then released. This creates a current that moves circularly in the direction of jθ. The current then creates a magnetic field in the outward radial direction (Br), which then creates a current in the gas that has just been released in the opposite direction of the original current. This opposite current ionizes the ammonia. The positively charged ions are accelerated away from the engine due to the electric field jθ crossing the magnetic field Br, due to the Lorentz force.[34]
Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster
Magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters and lithium Lorentz force accelerator (LiLFA) thrusters use roughly the same idea. The LiLFA thruster builds on the MPD thruster. Hydrogen, argon, ammonia and nitrogen can be used as propellant. In a certain configuration, the ambient gas in low Earth orbit (LEO) can be used as a propellant. The gas enters the main chamber where it is ionized into plasma by the electric field between the anode and the cathode. This plasma then conducts electricity between the anode and the cathode, closing the circuit. This new current creates a magnetic field around the cathode, which crosses with the electric field, thereby accelerating the plasma due to the Lorentz force.
The LiLFA thruster uses the same general idea as the MPD thruster, though with two main differences. First, the LiLFA uses lithium vapor, which can be stored as a solid. The other difference is that the single cathode is replaced by multiple, smaller cathode rods packed into a hollow cathode tube. MPD cathodes are easily corroded due to constant contact with the plasma. In the LiLFA thruster, the lithium vapor is injected into the hollow cathode and is not ionized to its plasma form/corrode the cathode rods until it exits the tube. The plasma is then accelerated using the same Lorentz force.[35][36][37]
In 2013, Russian company the Chemical Automatics Design Bureau successfully conducted a bench test of their MPD engine for long-distance space travel.[38]
Electrodeless plasma thrusters
Electrodeless plasma thrusters have two unique features: the removal of the anode and cathode electrodes and the ability to throttle the engine. The removal of the electrodes eliminates erosion, which limits lifetime on other ion engines. Neutral gas is first ionized by electromagnetic waves and then transferred to another chamber where it is accelerated by an oscillating electric and magnetic field, also known as the ponderomotive force. This separation of the ionization and acceleration stages allows throttling of propellant flow, which then changes the thrust magnitude and specific impulse values.[39]
Helicon double layer thrusters
A helicon double layer thruster is a type of plasma thruster that ejects high velocity
Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR)
The proposed
Microwave electrothermal thrusters
Under a research grant from the NASA Lewis Research Center during the 1980s and 1990s, Martin C. Hawley and Jes Asmussen led a team of engineers in developing a microwave electrothermal thruster (MET).[42]
In the discharge chamber, microwave (MW) energy flows into the center containing a high level of ions (I), causing neutral species in the gaseous propellant to ionize. Excited species flow out (FES) through the low ion region (II) to a neutral region (III) where the ions complete their recombination, replaced with the flow of neutral species (FNS) towards the center. Meanwhile, energy is lost to the chamber walls through heat conduction and convection (HCC), along with radiation (Rad). The remaining energy absorbed into the gaseous propellant is converted into thrust.
Radioisotope thruster
A theoretical propulsion system has been proposed, based on
A variant of this uses a graphite-based grid with a static DC high voltage to increase thrust as graphite has high transparency to alpha particles if it is also irradiated with short wave UV light at the correct wavelength from a solid-state emitter. It also permits lower energy and longer half-life sources which would be advantageous for a space application. Helium backfill has also been suggested as a way to increase electron mean free path.
Comparisons
Thruster | Propellant | Input power (kW) |
Specific impulse (s) |
Thrust (mN) |
Thruster mass (kg) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NSTAR | Xenon | 2.3 | 1700–3300[44] | 92 max.[19] | 8.33 [45] | Used on the Deep Space 1 and Dawn space probes. |
PPS-1350 Hall effect | Xenon | 1.5 | 1660 | 90 | 5.3 | |
NEXT[19] | Xenon | 6.9[46] | 4190[46][47][48] | 236 max.[19][48] | <13.5 [49] | Used in DART mission. |
X3[50] Hall effect | Xenon or Krypton[51] | 102[50] | 1800–2650[52] | 5400[50] | 230[52][50] | |
NEXIS[53] | Xenon | 20.5 | ||||
RIT 22[54] | Xenon | 5 | ||||
BHT-8000[55] | Xenon | 8 | 2210 | 449 | 25 | |
Hall effect | Xenon | 75[citation needed] | ||||
FEEP | Liquid caesium | 6×10−5–0.06 | 6000–10000[32] | 0.001–1[32] | ||
NPT30-I2
|
Iodine | 0.034–0.066 [56] | 1000–2500[56] | 0.5–1.5[56] | 1.2 | |
Starlink Gen1 Hall effect[57] | Krypton[57] | ~1667 | ~70.83 | |||
Starlink Gen2 Hall effect[57] | Argon[57] | 4.2[57] | 2500[57] | 170[57] | 2.1[57] | Used in Starlink V2 mini satellites. |
AEPS[58] | Xenon | 13.3 | 2900 | 600 | 25 | To be used in Lunar Gateway PPE module. |
Thruster | Propellant | Input power (kW) |
Specific impulse (s) |
Thrust (mN) |
Thruster mass (kg) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hall effect | Bismuth | 1.9[59] | 1520 (anode)[59] | 143 (discharge)[59] | ||
Hall effect | Bismuth | 25[citation needed] | ||||
Hall effect | Bismuth | 140[citation needed] | ||||
Hall effect | Iodine | 0.2[60] | 1510 (anode)[60] | 12.1 (discharge)[60] | ||
Hall effect | Iodine | 7[61] | 1950[61] | 413[61] | ||
HiPEP
|
Xenon | 20–50[62] | 6000–9000[62] | 460–670[62] | ||
MPDT | Hydrogen | 1500[63] | 4900[63] | 26300[citation needed] | ||
MPDT | Hydrogen | 3750[63] | 3500[63] | 88500[citation needed] | ||
MPDT | Hydrogen | 7500[citation needed] | 6000[citation needed] | 60000[citation needed] | ||
LiLFA | Lithium vapor | 500 | 4077[citation needed] | 12000[citation needed] | ||
FEEP | Liquid caesium | 6×10−5–0.06 | 6000–10000[32] | 0.001–1[32] | ||
VASIMR
|
Argon | 200 | 3000–12000 | Approximately 5000[64] | 620[65] | |
CAT[66] | Xenon, iodine, water[67] | 0.01 | 690[68][69] | 1.1–2 (73 mN/kW)[67] | <1[67] | |
DS4G | Xenon | 250 | 19300 | 2500 max. | 5 | |
KLIMT | Krypton | 0.5[70] | 4[70] | |||
ID-500 | Xenon[71] | 32–35 | 7140 | 375–750[72] | 34.8 | To be used in TEM |
Lifetime
Ion thrusters' low thrust requires continuous operation for a long time to achieve the necessary change in velocity (delta-v) for a particular mission. Ion thrusters are designed to provide continuous operation for intervals of weeks to years.
The lifetime of electrostatic ion thrusters is limited by several processes.
Gridded thruster life
In electrostatic gridded designs, charge-exchange ions produced by the beam ions with the neutral gas flow can be accelerated towards the negatively biased accelerator grid and cause grid erosion. End-of-life is reached when either the grid structure fails or the holes in the grid become large enough that ion extraction is substantially affected – e.g., by the occurrence of electron backstreaming. Grid erosion cannot be avoided and is the major lifetime-limiting factor. Thorough grid design and material selection enable lifetimes of 20,000 hours or more.
A test of the NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) electrostatic ion thruster resulted in 30,472 hours (roughly 3.5 years) of continuous thrust at maximum power. Post-test examination indicated the engine was not approaching failure.[73][3][4] NSTAR operated for years on Dawn.
The
Hall-effect thruster life
Hall-effect thrusters suffer from strong erosion of the ceramic discharge chamber by impact of energetic ions: a test reported in 2010 [75] showed erosion of around 1 mm per hundred hours of operation, though this is inconsistent with observed on-orbit lifetimes of a few thousand hours.
The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) is expected to accumulate about 5,000 hours and the design aims to achieve a flight model that offers a half-life of at least 23,000 hours[76] and a full life of about 50,000 hours.[77]
Propellants
Ionization energy represents a large percentage of the energy needed to run ion drives. The ideal propellant is thus easy to ionize and has a high mass/ionization energy ratio. In addition, the propellant should not erode the thruster to any great degree, so as to permit long life, and should not contaminate the vehicle.[78]
Many current designs use xenon gas, as it is easy to ionize, has a reasonably high atomic number, is inert and causes low erosion. However, xenon is globally in short supply and expensive (approximately $3,000 per kg in 2021).[79]
Some older ion thruster designs used mercury propellant. However, mercury is toxic, tended to contaminate spacecraft, and was difficult to feed accurately. A modern commercial prototype may be using mercury successfully.[80] Mercury was formally banned as a propellant in 2022 by the Minamata Convention on Mercury.[81]
From 2018-2023, krypton was used to fuel the Hall-effect thrusters aboard Starlink internet satellites, in part due to its lower cost than conventional xenon propellant.[82] Starlink V2-mini satellites have since switched to argon Hall-effect thrusters, providing higher specific impulse.[83]
Other propellants, such as bismuth and iodine, show promise both for gridless designs such as Hall-effect thrusters,[59][60][61] and gridded ion thrusters.[84]
Energy efficiency
Ion thruster efficiency is the kinetic energy of the exhaust jet emitted per second divided by the electrical power into the device.
Overall system energy efficiency is determined by the propulsive efficiency, which depends on vehicle speed and exhaust speed. Some thrusters can vary exhaust speed in operation, but all can be designed with different exhaust speeds. At the lower end of specific impulse, Isp, the overall efficiency drops because ionization takes up a larger percentage energy and at the high end propulsive efficiency is reduced.
Optimal efficiencies and exhaust velocities for any given mission can be calculated to give minimum overall cost.
Missions
Ion thrusters have many in-space propulsion applications. The best applications make use of the long mission interval when significant
Demonstration vehicles
SERT
Ion propulsion systems were first demonstrated in space by the
Operational missions
Ion thrusters are routinely used for station-keeping on commercial and military communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The Soviet Union pioneered this field, using stationary plasma thrusters (SPTs) on satellites starting in the early 1970s.
Two geostationary satellites (ESA's
In Earth orbit
Tiangong space station
China's Tiangong space station is fitted with ion thrusters. Tianhe core module is propelled by both chemical thrusters and four Hall-effect thrusters,[94] which are used to adjust and maintain the station's orbit. The development of the Hall-effect thrusters is considered a sensitive topic in China, with scientists "working to improve the technology without attracting attention". Hall-effect thrusters are created with crewed mission safety in mind with effort to prevent erosion and damage caused by the accelerated ion particles. A magnetic field and specially designed ceramic shield was created to repel damaging particles and maintain integrity of the thrusters. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the ion drive used on Tiangong has burned continuously for 8,240 hours without a glitch, indicating their suitability for Chinese space station's designated 15-year lifespan.[95] This is the world's first Hall thruster on a human-rated mission.[7]
Starlink
SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation uses Hall-effect thrusters powered by krypton or argon to raise orbit, perform maneuvers, and de-orbit at the end of their use.[96]
GOCE
(GOCE) was launched on 16 March 2009. It used ion propulsion throughout its twenty-month mission to combat the air-drag it experienced in its low orbit (altitude of 255 kilometres) before intentionally deorbiting on 11 November 2013.In deep space
Deep Space 1
Hayabusa and Hayabusa2
The
Hayabusa2, launched in 2014, was based on Hayabusa. It also used ion thrusters.[100]
Smart 1
The European Space Agency's satellite SMART-1 launched in 2003 using a Snecma PPS-1350-G Hall thruster to get from GTO to lunar orbit. This satellite completed its mission on 3 September 2006, in a controlled collision on the Moon's surface, after a trajectory deviation so scientists could see the 3-meter crater the impact created on the visible side of the Moon.
Dawn
Dawn launched on 27 September 2007, to explore the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. It used three Deep Space 1 heritage xenon ion thrusters (firing one at a time). Dawn's ion drive is capable of accelerating from 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 4 days of continuous firing.[101] The mission ended on 1 November 2018, when the spacecraft ran out of hydrazine chemical propellant for its attitude thrusters.[102]
LISA Pathfinder
BepiColombo
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
NASA's
Psyche
NASA's Psyche spacecraft was launched in 2023 and is operating its SPT-140 xenon ion thruster in order to reach asteroid 16 Psyche in August 2029.
Proposed missions
International Space Station
As of March 2011[update], a future launch of an Ad Astra VF-200 200 kW
The VF-200 would have been a flight version of the
NASA previously worked on a 50 kW Hall-effect thruster for the ISS, but work was stopped in 2005.[108]
Lunar Gateway
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) is a module on the Lunar Gateway that provides power generation and propulsion capabilities. It is targeting launch on a commercial vehicle in January 2024.[109] It would probably use the 50 kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) under development at NASA Glenn Research Center and Aerojet Rocketdyne.[76]
MARS-CAT
The MARS-CAT (Mars Array of ionospheric Research Satellites using the CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster) mission is a two 6U CubeSat concept mission to study Mars' ionosphere. The mission would investigate its plasma and magnetic structure, including transient plasma structures, magnetic field structure, magnetic activity and correlation with solar wind drivers.[68] The CAT thruster is now called the RF thruster and manufactured by Phase Four.[69]
Interstellar missions
Geoffrey A. Landis proposed using an ion thruster powered by a space-based laser, in conjunction with a lightsail, to propel an interstellar probe.[110][111]
Popular culture
- The idea of an ion engine first appeared in Donald W. Horner's By Aeroplane to the Sun: Being the Adventures of a Daring Aviator and his Friends (1910).[112]
- Ion propulsion is the main thrust source of the spaceship Kosmokrator in the East German/Polish science fiction film Der Schweigende Stern (1960).[113]Minute 28:10.
- In the 1968 Star Trek episode "Spock's Brain", Scotty is repeatedly impressed by a civilization's use of ion power.[114][115]
- The popular Imperial TIE Fighter spacecraft from the Star Wars franchise are propelled by twin ion engines, hence the name.
- Ion propulsion is used by the Hermes spacecraft in the Andy Weir novel The Martian to transfer crew between Earth and Mars.[116]
See also
- Advanced Electric Propulsion System
- Colloid thruster
- Comparison of orbital rocket engines
- Electrically powered spacecraft propulsion
- List of spacecraft with electric propulsion
- Nano-particle field extraction thruster
- Nuclear electric rocket
- Nuclear pulse propulsion
- Plasma actuator
- Plasma propulsion engine
- Plasma speaker
- Spacecraft propulsion
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External links
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA
- Colorado State University Electric Propulsion & Plasma Engineering (CEPPE) Laboratory
- Geoffrey A. Landis: Laser-powered Interstellar Probe
- Choueiri, Edgar Y. (2009) New dawn of electric rocket The Ion Drive Archived 18 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres
- Electric Propulsion Sub-Systems Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- Stationary plasma thrusters
Articles
- "NASA Trumps Star Trek: Ion Drive Live!" The Daily Galaxy 13 April 2009.
- "The Ultimate Space Gadget: NASA's Ion Drive Live!" The Daily Galaxy, 7 July 2009.
- An early experimental ion engine is on display at the Aerospace Discovery at the Florida Air Museum.