A 205 Hour Krypton Propellant Life Test of the SPT-100 Operating at 3 kW

Abstract

A life test study was performed on the Russian SPT-100 operating with krypton propellant to obtain channel erosion data. In these experiments, a new flight model SPT-100 was fired with krypton propellant for 205 hours at a power level of 2 kW. This 390 V, 5.1 A operating condition was chosen from a set of operating conditions where krypton performance was characterized in an earlier study.1 Erosion measurements of the boron nitride channels were taken at 100 hours and 205 hours. A Micro Photonics optical profilometer was used to measure the surface profiles of the ceramic insulators. Cross-section profiles were made in a radially symmetric spoke pattern in 2.5 deg increments around the thruster face with a lateral resolution of 0.10 mm. These measurements were compared to existing erosion data with xenon.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA596220

Entities

People

  • Jorge J. Delgado
  • Michael R. Nakles
  • Ronald L. Corey
  • William A. Hargus

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Ceramic Materials
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Engineers
  • Hall Effect
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Life Tests
  • Materials Science
  • Measurement
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Optical Detectors
  • Power Levels
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Space Propulsion
  • Thrusters
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster