Refined Orbital Performance Measurements 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 taken from on-board systems, GPS and ground tracking during these firings are used to determine thruster performance. The on-board Servo Accelerometer Assembly (SAA) measured spacecraft acceleration. The mean values of thrust, specific impulse and thrust efficiency are 1.93 +/- 0.06 Newtons, 786.2 +/- 43.0 seconds and 0.267 +/- 0.021, respectively. This measured performance is lower than expected based on ground test. The most likely cause of this discrepancy is onboard measurement error in discharge power due to a 6% drift in the power processing unit current shunt. At the corrected power, performance falls within the expected envelope.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 11, 2001
Accession Number
ADA406002

Entities

People

  • C. E. Vaughan
  • D. A. Chart
  • D. R. Bromaghim
  • J. M. Fife
  • W. A. Hoskins

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acceptance Tests
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Flow Rate
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Instrumentation
  • Measurement
  • Power Measurement
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Specific Impulse
  • Steady State
  • Telemetry
  • Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Satellites