Seven J series 30-cm diameter thrusters have been tested in segments of up to 5,070 hr, for 14,541 hr in the Mission Profile Life Test facility. Test results have indicated the basic thruster design to be consistent with the lifetime goal of 15,000 hr at 2-A beam. The only areas of concern identified which appear to require additional verification testing involve contamination of mercury propellant isolators, which may be due to facility constituents, and the ability of specially covered surfaces to contain sputtered material and prevent flake formation. The ability of the SCR, series resonant inverter power processor to operate the J series thruster and autonomous computer control of the thruster/processor system were demonstrated.


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    Title :

    Results of the mission profile life test


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, and DGLR, International Electric Propulsion Conference ; 1982 ; New Orleans, LA


    Publication date :

    1982-11-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Results of the mission profile life test

    BECHTEL, R. / TRUMP, G. / JAMES, E. | AIAA | 1982





    A mission profile life test facility

    James, E. / Vetrone, R. / Bechtel, R. | NTRS | 1978