PLASMA THRUSTER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AT THE IRS

Since the early eighties the development of plasma thrusters has been an important research topic at the IRS, where a broad spectrum of stationary plasma thrusters has been investigated experimentally as well as theoretically. High power MPD thrusters (50 kW-1 MW) and a wide range of thermal arcjets (0.5-150 kW) are developed under contracts with ESA, NASA, USAF, USNAVY and with German funding. The IRS has excellent installations for continuous tests of high power accelerators. The high current power supply is a current regulated d.c. thyristor rectifier of 6 MW. The maximum current is 48 kA with a ripple less than 1%. The vacuum system is a roots pump system consisting of four stages with a total suction power of about 250,000 m3/h at 1 Pa. Eight vacuum tanks of different sizes are connected to this system; six of them are used for plasma thruster development and two serve as plasma wind tunnels. For low power arcjet development and basic cathode erosion experiments four additional independent test stands are available.