Qualification of commercial XIPS® ion thrusters for NASA Deep Space missions

Abstract

Electric propulsion systems based on commercial ion and Hall thrusters have the potential for significantly reducing the cost and schedule-risk of Ion Propulsion Systems (IPS) for deep space missions. The large fleet of geosynchronous communication satellites that use SEP, which will approach 40 satellites by year-end, demonstrates the significant level of technical maturity and spaceflight heritage achieved by the commercial IPS systems. A program to delta-qualify XIPS® ion thrusters for deep space missions is underway at JPL. This program includes modeling of the thruster grid and cathode life, environmental testing of a 25-cm EM thruster over DAWN-like vibe and temperature profiles, and wear testing of the thruster cathodes to demonstrate the life and benchmark the model results. This paper will present the delta-qualification status of the XIPS thruster and discuss the life and reliability with respect to known failure mechanisms.