A miniaturized ion thruster and neutralizer with microwave discharge

A 18 mm-diameter microwave discharge ion engine and a 7 mm-diameter microwave discharge cylindrical neutralizer for space propulsion has been developed. In order to improve the thrust performance of a miniature microwave discharge ion engine, the dependence of its thrust performance on antenna shapes was investigated. At present as for the ion engine performance parameters, the propellant utilization efficiency, the ion production cost and the thrust were 0.72, 770 W/A and 0.66 mN, respectively at input 2.45 GHz microwave power of 8 W and Xe gas flow rate of 0.2 seem with a star type antenna. As for the neutralizer, in order to improve the performance, the dependence of its performance on the magnetic induction was investigated. The maximam extracted electron current of 6 mA was obtained at Ar gas flow rate of 0.1 seem and input microwave power of 4 W.