Calculations of the efficiencies show a clear increase in overall efficiency. Particularly, the mass efficiency and the electrical efficiency would increase significantly over that obtained with a xenon-fuelled ion engine. Together with the exceptionally high flexibility of the molecular structure of C60, this results in a very low ablation in the grid system, and consequently in a longer lifetime.
One of the most severe problems in using C60 as propellant for ion engines is the temperature sensitivity of C60. High temperatures cause fragmentation of the C60 molecule, low temperatures lead to resublimation of C60 on the inner walls of the engine. Both would result in a decrease of the mass efficiency. Therefore, extensive experiments with a special ion source were carried out to determine the temperature behavior of an ion thruster.
This and the theoretical research yield in a temperature window (400–700°C) for systems operating with C60. 相似文献