Ground-Test Facility for High-Power Electric Thrusters Operating on Condensible Propellants

摘要

Work reported here resulted in the design and fabrication of a space- simulation facility used to test electric thrusters for spacecraft. The facility was specifically designed to accommodate thrusters using condensable metal propellants such as bismuth. Apparatus includes a large 2-m x 4-m vacuum vessel evacuated through three 2,000-liter-per-second turbomolecular pumps, a 20-kW DC power supply, a remote translation system, and computer data acquisition center.