Thrust Regulation Characteristics of Micro-newton and High-precision Direct Current Ion Propulsion System
To investigate the feasibility of using micro-DC ion thrusters for ultra-precision spacecraft control missions,a micro-newton DC ion thruster is designed and equipped with a carbon nanotube neutralizer.The thrust range and resolution are evaluated at the voltage range of 150～490 V,besides,the noise is also calculated at a thrust level of 5,25,50 μN.In the mentioned voltage range,the thrust range of the thruster using xenon and argon as propellent is 5.75～50.83 μN and 5.93～47.63 μN respectively,and the maximum thrust noise is 0.12 μN/√Hz and 0.05 μN/√Hz.In addition,the performance of the carbon nanotube neutralizer is tested and a maximum extraction current of 1.22 mA has been achieved,which satisfies the need of 0～37.37 μN in Xenon and 0～16.50 μN in Argon.The experimental result shows that this propulsion system can be used in drag-free control,and the use of argon is more beneficial to achieving high-precision and low-noise thrust.
Ion thrusterMicro-newton thrustHigh-precision controlThrust precisionThrust noise
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