Annular Ion Engine Concept and Development Status

Abstract

The Annular Ion Engine (AIE) concept represents an evolutionary development in gridded ion thruster technology with the potential for delivering revolutionary capabilities. It has this potential because the AIE concept: (a) enables scaling of ion thruster technology to high power at specific impulse (Isp) values of interest for near-term mission applications, 5000 sec; and (b) it enables an increase in both thrust density and thrust-to-power (FP) ratio exceeding conventional ion thrusters and other electric propulsion (EP) technology options, thereby yielding the highest performance over a broad range in Isp. The AIE concept represents a natural progression of gridded ion thruster technology beyond the capabilities embodied by NASAs Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) [1]. The AIE would be appropriate for: (a) applications which require power levels exceeding NEXTs capabilities (up to about 14 kW [2]), with scalability potentially to 100s of kW; and/or (b) applications which require FP conditions exceeding NEXTs capabilities.