QualifiCation of the Flight Heaters for the NEXT-C Hollow Cathodes

Arthur, Neil; Verhey, Timothy R.; Mackey, Jonathan A.; Soulas, George C.

After successful validation of the design, swaged cathode heaters have been delivered by the NASA Glenn Research Center to Aerojet Rocketdyne for the fabrication of the NEXT-C ion thruster . NASA Glenn Research Center re-established and validated process controls as well as completed cyclic life testing of development heaters. Following an extensive requalification program, fabrication of a flight batch of heaters was executed using the qualified process controls. Of the 28 heaters fabricated in this flight batch, a set of six heaters were acceptance and cyclic tested to verify conformance with operational requirements. Upon completion of 200 percent of the NEXT-C cyclic requirement, the heater batch was certified by NASA for use in the flight hollow cathodes. Nine heaters from the batch of 28 were provided to Aerojet Rocketdyne in early 2018 for cathode fabrication. This paper summarizes the acceptance and cyclic life testing of the flight heaters and preliminary findings of post-test analyses.

Document ID

20200000368

Acquisition Source

Glenn Research Center

Document Type

Technical Memorandum (TM)

Authors

Date Acquired

January 16, 2020

Publication Date

January 1, 2020

Subject Category

Report/Patent Number

Meeting Information

Meeting: Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition

Location: Indianapolis, IN

Country: United States

Start Date: August 19, 2019

End Date: August 22, 2019

Sponsors: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

Funding Number(s)

Distribution Limits

Public

Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

Name

Type

20200000368.pdf

STI

No Preview Available

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Available Downloads

Related Records