Seminar Report On Ion Propulsion

1.
INTRODUCTION:
Aerospace industry involves a very wide range of engineering disciplines.

Amongst them, propulsion is one of the most important branches, since any possible
mission largely depends on it.
Nowadays, electric propulsion is considered in operations like orbit raising

manoeuvres, station keeping or interplanetary travel. From all the propulsive systems,
ion thrusters have been the most seriously considered commercially for such missions,
as they require high change in velocity which can be achieved over long periods of
time.
Up to this day, the development of engine designs capable of meeting these

requirements has been largely experimental. Ion thrusters’ development has generally
been accomplished by a procedure in which the design parameters that influence
thruster’s performance are physically varied until an acceptable configuration is
obtained. First of all, this procedure is time consuming, since a large number of
parameters is involved. In addition, changes in the missions’ specifications may be
characterised by different propulsion requirements, implying the repetition of the
iterative process.
In order to accurately assess the thruster performance without the need to

perform such expensive and long tests, analytical studies and numerical models must
be developed. They should allow to estimate the capabilities of the ion engine with a
certain degree of accuracy or, at least, they should enable to provide a guidance for
the iterative process mentioned above. It could be of crucial importance in financial
matters since testing and development costs would be saved.
Since Space Age began with Sputnik 1 launch in 1957, aerospace industry has
been evolving driven by the demand of the current society. Communication satellites
nowadays are the best known application of space technology, since nobody could
imagine their life today without services such as long distance calling or satellite
television. However, there are many others uses of Earth Orbiting spacecraft,
including navigation systems, Earth observation or scientific research. Some
examples are GPS satellites, the International Space Station or the Hubble Space
Telescope. Furthermore, technology development has enabled us to complete
exploration missions, reaching important targets like the Moon or different planets in
the Solar System.
One of the main challenges in each mission is to find the most suitable space
propulsion system. A spacecraft does not only have to leave the Earth’s surface, but it
also must achieve its optimum orbit and keep it, or speed up the vehicle in order to
decrease the travel time.
Until now, the only way to escape from the dense atmosphere is through huge
amounts of fuel and large thrusts (achieved with chemical propulsion), but once in the
space, the propulsion requirements are very different. Low thrust propulsion systems
are ideal for such in-space applications and, from among them all, we can highlight
the electric thrusters.
They offer several advantages with respect to the conventional chemical engines.
For example, they are more efficient, requiring much less propellant to produce the
same overall effect. Propellant is ejected much faster, generating higher specific
impulses (𝐼𝑠𝑝), which is a measure of the efficiency of rockets. Consequently, they
provide small accelerations, and it takes much longer to achieve particular speeds.
Nevertheless, the thrust they produce can be applied over long periods of time,
enabling spacecraft to acquire high speeds needed for interplanetary missions.
Moreover, they are able to regulate their thrust, making it possible to control the
spacecraft’s attitude with exceptional precision. Next figure reflects the working
ranges of thrust and 𝐼𝑠𝑝 for both propulsion systems.
Fig.1 Range of thrust and 𝐼𝑠𝑝
In Fig 1, we can see that electrical systems provide lower accelerations (low thrust
levels), but require much less propellant mass (high 𝐼𝑠𝑝) than chemical propulsion
systems. The advantages of the electrical engines make them suitable for many space
missions.
Nowadays, electric propulsion is considered in operations like:
 Station keeping: keeping a spacecraft in a particular orbit counteracting

perturbations.
 Attitude control: controlling the orientation of the vehicle with respect to a

reference frame.
 Orbit transfer: moving a spacecraft from one orbit to another.
 Deep space missions: propelling a spacecraft to speed it up towards its target.

These manoeuvres require a high change in velocity, which can be achieved over long
periods of time. The most appropriate applications of these systems make use of their
long lifetime (10-15 years) [2] when significant thrust is not needed, for example,
when counteracting the atmospheric drag effect or compensating the gravitational
perturbations.
The concept of electric propulsion dates back to 1911, being introduced by

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in its first published mention about electric propulsion. In the
period between 1929 and 1931, in Leningrad’s Gas-Dynamics Laboratory, it was
designed and tested the first electric thruster prototype, but it was not until 1964, after
some years of new concepts and models developing, that the first working ion thruster
was sent into a suborbital flight, being operative during 31 minutes before falling back
to Earth. It was built in 1959 at NASA facilities and was tested during the 1960s.
Since its conception, different types of electric thrusters have been developed and
tested in space.
2.LITERATURE SURVEY:
Due to the nature of the study, it will consist of two main differentiated blocks; a
first research and investigation part, and a second program development and
implementation part.
The scope of the present work is structured as follows:
- Background study. Analysis of current space propulsion systems.
- State of the art research. Analysis of the ion thruster existing applications.
- Specific mission analysis so as to compare chemical and electric propulsion

performance, justifying the ion thruster as a suitable propulsion system for the
particular mission.
- Study of basic electromagnetism and plasma physics.
- Preliminary analytical study of an electron bombardment ion thruster.
- Ionisation chamber quasi-unidimensional model to assess ion thruster’s performance

for different operating conditions.
- Results validation.
- Actuations analysis so as to optimise the thruster operation given a specific mission.

3. DEFINITION:

Seminar Report On Ion Propulsion

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1.

Aerospace industry involves a very wide range of engineering disciplines.

Nowadays, electric propulsion is considered in operations like orbit raising

Up to this day, the development of engine designs capable of meeting these

In order to accurately assess the thruster performance without the need to

 Station keeping: keeping a spacecraft in a particular orbit counteracting

 Attitude control: controlling the orientation of the vehicle with respect to a

 Orbit transfer: moving a spacecraft from one orbit to another.

 Deep space missions: propelling a spacecraft to speed it up towards its target.

The concept of electric propulsion dates back to 1911, being introduced by

- Background study. Analysis of current space propulsion systems.

- Specific mission analysis so as to compare chemical and electric propulsion

- Study of basic electromagnetism and plasma physics.

- Preliminary analytical study of an electron bombardment ion thruster.

- Ionisation chamber quasi-unidimensional model to assess ion thruster’s performance

- Actuations analysis so as to optimise the thruster operation given a specific mission.

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