SPT-100 is a
Hall-effect ion thruster
An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. It creates thrust by accelerating ions using electricity.
An ion thruster ionizes a neutral gas by extracting some electrons out o ...
, part of the SPT-family of thrusters. SPT stands for ''Stationary Plasma Thruster''. It creates a stream of electrically charged
xenon
Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...
ions accelerated by an electric field and confined by a magnetic field.
The thruster is manufactured by Russian
OKB Fakel
EDB Fakel ( Russian ''ОКБ "Факел"'') is a Russian electric propulsion system development company. It is located in Kaliningrad in Kaliningrad Oblast. It was founded in 1955 as a ''Propulsion laboratory'' of the Soviet Academy of Sciences ...
, and was first launched onboard
Gals-1 satellite in 1994.
In 2003 Fakel debuted a second generation of the thruster, called SPT-100B, and in 2011 it presented further upgrades in SPT-100M prototypes.
As of 2011 SPT-100 thrusters were used in 18 Russian and 14 foreign spacecraft, including
IPSTAR-II,
Telstar-8 and
Ekspress
Ekspress (russian: Экспресс meaning Express), is a series of geostationary communications satellites owned by Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC). The first satellite of this kind was launched on 13 October 1994. The satell ...
A and AM constellations.
Specifications
See also
*
PPS-1350
Stationary plasma thrusters��PDF)
References
{{Reflist
Ion engines
Spacecraft propulsion