Performance Results of Large Vacuum Test Facility for Electric Thrusters Testing

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, the lead centre of Indian Space Research Organization for the development of propulsion systems has recently established a Large Vacuum Test Facility to support the testing of medium to high power electric thrusters for India’s space program. This paper presents the recent results of a 5 kW class Stationary Plasma Thruster (SPT) test conducted continuous duration for 26 hours. The facility successfully met all operational requirements, including power delivery to the thruster, desired vacuum maintenance, and data acquisition throughout the test. The vacuum pumping system, along with auxiliary systems, functioned flawlessly. At a total Xenon flow of 15.2 mg/s, Xenon cold heads temperatures were maintained within 45 K and desired vacuum level maintained in the vacuum chamber. Additionally, the thruster’s ignition characteristics and breathing mode oscillations were effectively captured using high-sampling acquisition cards.