Description
The objective of the activity is to develop a concept for efficient testing of thrusters for large constellations that reduces the test-setup complexity and test duration by an order of magnitude. The concept shall be implemented and experimentally validated in ascalable testbed for high volume testing of the electric propulsion systems. Targeted Improvements: Increase the number of electricthrusters (minimum of 4 to 8) to be tested simultaneously to address the needs of the satellite constellation market. Description: Due to the increase in the number of satellite orders, especially for low Earth orbit telecommunication constellations, the need forelectric thrusters has also increased. In a conventional production approach, every thruster is tested during the acceptance campaign in a dedicated vacuum chamber to verify and characterise its performance. When large numbers of thrusters are required two approaches are possible: lot acceptance testing (i.e., testing of only a few units per batch) or full testing (of 100% of the units produced) in line with conventional practice.This project will focus on the second approach and will investigate technology that will enable testing of a very large number of electric thrusters in the shortest possible time, thereby significantly decreasing the time todelivery. Possible solutions such as multi-slot vacuum chambers will be studied. A concept of for efficient testing of at least four to eight thrusters simultaneously will be developed. A scalable testbed (including dummy and functioning thruster(s)) will be manufactured, and the developed testing concept will be experimentally evaluated with at least one working thruster. This includes vacuum firing tests. A particular focus will be placed on a simplifying the way of measuring key performance parameters (thrust, specificimpulse, mass flow). Footnote: On Delegation Request activities will only be initiated on the explicit request of at least one National Delegation. Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to: http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_En…