Development Status of the iodine Fed Advanced Cusp Field Thruster for Mid Power - iFACT-MP

iFACT-MP targets to develop a hybrid propulsion subsystem with a thruster unit consisting of an iodine fed anode and a krypton fed cathode as baseline in the 3-5 kW range. In parallel of the thruster unit, an iodine fed cathode is under development using enhanced C12A7 emitters. Further work is performed on the essential iodine specific building blocks such as the iodine fluidic chain, consisting of tank, regulator and heated pipework, as well as a Breadboard PPU to drive all functions, control loops and procedures. An optical mass flow meter allows in-situ measurement of the flow rate, and an iodine compatible vacuum test facility with thrust and plume diagnostics is built for this power range. At the current stage, all building blocks are integrated and have been individually tested, with coupling tests at increasing levels of integration to come.