Abstract
During the Electric Propulsion Space Experiment mission, eight e rings of the 26-kW ammonia arcjet were performed. Data from onboard systems,including an accelerometerandglobal positioning system unit, are used to determine thruster performance. In addition, ground-based tracking is used to determine velocity change during these e rings. The mean values of thrust, specie c impulse, and thrust efe ciency are estimated to be 1.93 § 0.06 N, 786.2§ 43.0s,and 0.267 § 0.021,respectively.Thismeasuredperformanceislowerthanexpectedbasedon ground test.Themostlikelycauseofthisdiscrepancyiserrorinonboardmeasurementofdischargepowerduetoa6%drift inthepowerprocessing unitcurrent shunt.Atthecorrected power, performancefallswithintheexpectedenvelope.
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