| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a system to supply gas for ion engine plasma ignition capable of reliably igniting a propellant and generating plasma thereof even for a compact ion engine.SOLUTION: A method to supply gas for ion engine plasma ignition performs plasma ignition by supplying a propellant at a temporarily higher flow rate than a steady state when starting discharge. A system to implement the method has a gas holder 20 to store the propellant between a flow rate limiter 18, which controls a flow rate of the propellant when the same is supplied from an accumulator 13 where the propellant stored in a propellant storage tank 11 is temporarily kept in decompressed state to an ion source 3 and a neutralizer 5, and a thruster valve 19, which controls connection or disconnection of propellant supply to the ion source 3 and the neutralizer 5. |
