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Considerable progress has been made in recent years in the study of the Earth's gravitational field by observing the motion of satellites in low altitude orbits. However, such observations are hampered by the aerodynamic drag caused by the residual atmosphere, which modifies the orbits of these satellites in an unpredictable way. In order to overcome this problem, an on-board propulsion system with...
The cusped field thruster represents a new type of electric propulsion device incorporating cusped magnetic field profiles that keep high energy ions away from channel walls and mitigate erosion. Thus its lifetime will be longer compared with so me other type of electric propulsion devices. Recently, the cusped field thruster has been paid much attentions by many organizations, such as Thales Research...
A cusped field thruster with adjustable magnetic field strength is designed by Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). The thruster produce thrust by accelerating the xenon ions in the electric field. Two different modes are found during the experiments, one is high anode current and low voltage mode, the other is low anode current and high voltage mode. Phenomena of intermittent large amplitude anode...