Performance improvement of ion engines and prospective technologies

摘要

Present status of the research and development on ion engines were introduced, and their future perspectives were overviewed as a basis for making future planning of ion propulsion development. Various space missions were taken into account such as station keeping of geostationary satellites, orbit transfer, removal of post-mission satellites from operational orbits, and space science explorations. For each of the missions, discussions were given on requirements and critical issues. Also, considerations were made for lighter and simplified ion propulsion systems.