PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER OF THE EROSION TYPE FOR A GEOSTATIONARY ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITE

Analysis is made for the possibility of erosion pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) application while solving the task of maintaining the point sus taining a long-operating geostationary artificial Earth satellite. The concept of an erosion PPT with a pulse energy of 200-300 J, designed for holding the attitude of a satellite of 500 kg mass over 10 years i s presented. The thruster, with a lifetime of 2-3 x 10(7) pulses, prod uces a total pulse of 2.5 x 10(5) Ns, consuming up to 13 kg of propell ant (Teflon). Estimations have shown that the thruster total mass will not exceed 50-60 kg for the flying PPT. Even in the case of a two-fol d redundancy the thruster set mass should comprise no more than 0.20-0 .25 of the satellite mass. The prospect of a rail design for the PPT d ischarge chamber with lateral propellant feeding is experimentally exa mined.