Three-dimensional finite-element simulation of ION thruster optics system

Summary form only given. In the past 30 years, electric propulsion use in spacecraft has grown steadily wordwide. Modeling and simulation techniques have been playing a more and more important role in developing advanced electric thrusters. In this paper, three-dimensional finite-element simulation of ion thruster optics system is introduced. In a global time step, the new particles are injected into the domain, and the particles that are still in the system are advanced several local time steps. We let the global time step for a ll particles same, but each particle's local time step can be different, and it depends on the particle location. Typically, we set the local time step low enough so that the particle needs to be advanced about five times to move the distance of the edge of the element in which the particle is located.