Abstract
To assist in assessing the durability of the U.K. T4A and T5 10-cm mercury ion thrusters when used for NorthSouth stationkeeping, cyclic life-tests of thruster components have been carried out. This paper reports a cyclic discharge test of a hollow cathode in a diode configuration, together with thermal cycling tests of cathode heaters. The automatically controlled discharge test consisted of repetitive on and off periods with normal durations of 3 h and 40 min, respectively. The test was terminated voluntarily after 4200 h of discharge operation and 1343 starts. The rate of degradation of performance, as indicated by keeper and plasma potentials, was fully acceptable for the envisaged missions, as were the time, power, and energy required for discharge initiation. The thermal cycling tests demonstrated that the heater technology is satisfactory. It was concluded from a consideration of various aspects of the long-term operation of hollow cathodes that diode tests are adequately representative of thruster conditions.
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