What is it about?
This paper summarizes recent efforts at Colorado State University to develop a hollow cathode electron source capable of operating on iodine propellant, in an effort to augment the use of iodine in electric propulsion systems. Current issues with iodine stem from the reactive nature of iodine especially at elevated temperatures that hollow cathodes operate at (>1100°C).
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Why is it important?
Iodine is a highly corrosive propellant that leads to cathode failure in tens of hours or after several starts when used with traditional hollow cathode technology. The efforts described in this paper show steps taken to mitigate these failures and promising avenues towards producing an iodine-compatible cathode.
Perspectives
Continued work on this issue will help enable the use of iodine as a propellant for more electric propulsion systems, thereby decreasing the cost of EP systems while increasing mission capability for satellites. We hope to continue to work with others to make more progress in this area.
Seth Thompson
Colorado State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Development of an Iodine Compatible Hollow Cathode, August 2019, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-3997.
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