Deployable gridded ion thruster
AssigneeGeorgia Tech Research Corporation
InventorsMitchell L. R. WALKER, II, Cheong CHAN
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Abstract
Various examples related to a deployable gridded ion thruster are described. A deployable gridded ion thruster can include: a thruster body including an ion generating unit; and an expandable discharge chamber configured to expand from a stored configuration to a deployed configuration. The expandable discharge chamber can include a chamber wall having a first geometric shape compressed within the thruster body when in the stored configuration and a second geometric shape expanded outward from the thruster body when in the deployed configuration. Also described herein are methods of operation for a deployable gridded ion thruster.
Claims18
A deployable gridded ion thruster, comprising:
- a thruster body including an ion generating unit;
- and
- an expandable discharge chamber configured to expand from a stored configuration to a deployed configuration, where the expandable discharge chamber comprises a chamber wall having a first geometric shape compressed within the thruster body when in the stored configuration and a second geometric shape expanded outward from the thruster body when in the deployed configuration.
A method of deploying a deployable gridded ion thruster, comprising:
- launching the deployable gridded ion thruster into orbit, wherein the deployable gridded ion thruster comprises an expandable discharge chamber having a chamber wall configured to expand from a first geometric shape compressed in a stored configuration in a thruster body to a second geometric shape expanded in a deployed configuration extending from the thruster body;
- and
- deploying the expandable discharge chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.