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. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The i ...
, 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; it has 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 language, Russian ''ОКБ "Факел"'') is a Russian electric propulsion system development company. It is located in Kaliningrad (town), Kaliningrad in Kaliningrad Oblast. It was founded in 1955 as a ''Propulsion laboratory ...
, and was first launched onboard the
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 ( 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 satellites are produced by the ...
A and AM constellations.
Specifications
See also
*
PPS-1350
*
SPT-140
References
{{Reflist
External links
Stationary plasma thrustersPDF)
Ion engines
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft components