Preliminary Orbital Performance Analysis of the Air Force Electric Propulsion Space Experiment (ESEX) Ammonia Arcjet

Abstract

During the Electric Propulsion Space Experiment (ESEX) mission, eight firings of the 26 kW ammonia arcjet were performed. Data from on-board systems, GPS, and radar ranging taken during these firings are used in this paper to determine thruster performance. The on-board Servo Accelerometer Assembly (SAA) measured spacecraft acceleration continually at 10 Hz. Although the design prohibited precise acceleration measurement in the range nominally expected during the firings, estimates of acceleration were obtained. The uncertainties of the acceleration estimates are on the order of 5% of nominal due primarily to the discretization error of the A/D converter. Mean performance figures are calculated based on acceleration and other on-board measurements. The final estimates of specific impulse and thrust efficiency are 787.0 +/- 49.8 seconds and 0.284 +/- 0.029, respectively.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 02, 1999
Accession Number
ADA405828

Entities

People

  • A. M. Sutton
  • D. R. Bromaghim
  • J. M. Fife
  • J. R. Leduc
  • L. K. Johnson

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acceptance Tests
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Digital Data
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electronics
  • Flow Rate
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Measurement
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Specific Impulse
  • Standards
  • Telemetry
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Thrusters

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Software Engineering
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster