Modeling Ion propulsion plume interactions with spacecraft in formation flight

• Main Authors: Kafafy, Raed, Yong, Cao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Aeronautical Society 2010
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/17253/4/Modelling_ion_propulsion_plume_interactions.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/17253/; http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Protected/Subscribers/AeroJournal/3488COLOUR.pdf

This paper presents a simulation study of ion thruster plume effects on formation flying spacecraft. Two formation flight applications using micro-ion propulsion are considered: an L2-Halo orbit interferometer formation and a LEO micro-satellite formation. Worst case scenarios in both missions have...