High Power High Thrust Ion Thruster (HPHTion): 50 CM Ion Thruster for Near-Earth Applications

Advances in high power, photovoltaic technology has enabled the possibility of reasonably sized, high specific power, high power, solar arrays. At high specific powers, power levels ranging from 50 to several hundred kW are feasible. Coupled with gridded ion thruster technology, this power technology can be mission enabling for a wide range of missions ranging from ambitious near Earth NASA missions to those missions involving other customers as well such as DOD and commercial satellite interests. Indeed the HEFT clearly identified the need for high power electric. The appeal of the ion thrusters for such applications stems from their overall high efficiency, typically >70% and long life. In response to the need for a single, high powered engine to fill the gulf between the 7 kW NEXT system and a notional 25 kW engine, a Phase I activity to build a 25 kW, 50 cm ion thruster discharge chamber was completed with a laboratory model fabricated. The proposed Phase II effort aims to mature the laboratory model into a proto-engineering model ion thruster. The proposed effort involves the evolution of the discharge chamber to a high performance thruster by performance testing and characterization via simulated and full beam extraction testing. Through such testing the design will be optimized leading ultimately to the proposed design, build and preliminary checkout of a proto-engineering model thruster, thereby advancing the TRL level to 4-5 range. Deliverables include the thruster, a design package, and a performance data document.

EDA's plan to pursue this technology beyond Phase II, in collaboration with UM and Aerojet, is to develop production of flight hardware for NASA, DoD, and commercial vendors. Aerojet has also expressed significant interest in transitioning the technology into their propulsion system lineup as detailed in their letter of support for this technology development.

Successful development of a 25 kW thruster would support NASA cargo propulsion requirements such as those addressed in the HEFT report which described SEP needs with power levels extending from 30 kW to 300 kW. A single high power engine such as the proposed HPHTion would reduce system complexity by reducing engine count required to process the power. The engine would also support NASA space science endeavors. Operating at high thrust to power (~50mN/kW), the engine with the added bonus of long lifetime could also support DoD as well as commercial orbit transfer needs. In this regard, impact of the proposed activity would be broad with cross governmental agency applicability in addition to its relevance to commercial satellite interests from the private sector.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.