Gridded Ion Engine Standardised Electric Propulsion Platforms

Project Information

GIESEPP

Grant agreement ID: 730002

DOI

10.3030/730002

Project closed

EC signature date 24 October 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 October 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Space

Total cost

€ 10 579 877,26

EU contribution

€ 7 499 999,39

Coordinated by

ARIANEGROUP GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - GIESEPP (Gridded Ion Engine Standardised Electric Propulsion Platforms)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Electric Propulsion provides an order of magnitude improvement in fuel efficiency over chemical propulsion systems, enabling less launcher cost, longer operational life, or increased revenue for operators because of the increase in payload that EP facilitates. Electric Propulsion is a key technology for access to space. Europe needs to master this technology and be at the forefront in term of competitiveness. The difference in engine type arises through performance requirements: typically HETs are used for higher thrust and therefore faster orbit repositioning, whereas gridded ion engines have twice the fuel efficiency as HETs and therefore yield far more significant savings in satellite mass and cost.
Gridded Ion Engines give satellite manufacturers a choice: the ability to lower their costs through lowering the mass of their satellites, rather than the HET’s ability to earn revenue earlier through a faster time to reach station.
The European Union has two manufacturers of Gridded Ion Engines, ArianeGroup in Germany who builds the Radiofrequency Ion Thrusters (RIT-series) and QinetiQ in the UK who builds the T-series Ion Thrusters, both with extensive European EP heritage.
Market volume will grow from one-off sales to over one hundred systems per year across telecommunications, navigation and science satellites. Constellations could lead to hundreds of additional EP sales worldwide. Emerging markets are also foreseen for growing areas such as debris removal, refueling and end-of-life disposal from small to large satellites. Europe’s ability to compete in this market will depend in part in having a wide portfolio of EP solutions, of which Gridded Ion Engines are a key part.
The objective of the GIESEPP consortium was to develop, build and test to TRL5 the first European Plug and Play Gridded Ion Engine Standardised Electric Propulsion Platform (GIESEPP) to operate ArianeGroup and QinetiQ Space ion engines. These were the only European ion engines in the 200-700W (LEO) and 5kW (GEO) domains that are space-proven, and the consortium improved European competiveness in this field by significantly reducing the costs and increasing the GIE systems production capacities and maintain and secure the European non-dependence on this crucial technological field.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The GIESEPP Project has been planned in 5 phases, Phase 1 Mission Scenarios, Platforms, Requirements and Gap Identification, Phase 2 Electric Propulsion System Definition, Phase 3 Electric Propulsion System Development and Cost Optimisation, Phase 4 Build, Procure, Assemble and Prepare Standardised Tests and Phase 5 Test and Analysis.

Within phase 1 candidate platforms for
• LEO
• GEO and
• Space transportation, exploration and interplanetary missions
have been defined and assessed towards implementation of the GIESEPP platform as driving design element for the candidate satellite platform. Preliminary requirements were provided and assessed from EP subsystem and component point of view. The requirement breakdown on component level and the existing technical evaluation heritage allowed the identification of technical and performance gaps of all key EP elements (PPU, thrusters, and fluid management). In addition, first assessments regarding the functionality with alternative propellants were started on single component level and on GIESEPP system level. System trade-offs were performed resulting in a preliminary GIESEPP definition for the complete EPS and the single components.

Phase 2 was dedicated to the definition of the GIESEPP system coping with the requirements of the platform prime company. After the concept review of the EPS, design assessments on platform level were performed in order to define design sensitivity parameters influencing both the GIESEPP design on one hand and the candidate platform design on the other hand. The design sensitivity parameters (technical and economical) lead to further refinement of the candidate platform requirements towards the GIESEPP system and in consequence to its components. Specifications of the components of GIESEPP were defined and design and development plans were set up.

Phase 3 started after SRR. Final mission parameters have been defined taking into account the iterated GIESEPP system on one hand and direct customer and market input on the other. The phase allowed the identification of key cost drivers. Their re-assessment towards cost optimisation was constantly analysed in terms of performance and overall economic impact. The design in particular on component level was re-assessed with regard to a serial production of GIESEPP 1L, 2L and 1G considering high volume production scenerios. For both 1L/2L and 1G/1S respective PDR meetings have been performed.

Within phase 4 a set of component engineering models in preparation of a successful EM TRR for the different coupling tests has been manufactured and pre-tested. Also different potential harness solutions have been evaluated for first functional results – with a starting focus on 1L.
In parallel a test plan for coupling and alternative propellant tests has been established as baseline for individual test procedures specific to each partner.

Phase 5 was dominated by test execution and analysis:
• ArianeGroup RIT-10 based tests on both component level and coupled on 1L/2L system level (in two distinct configurations, once as pre-test w/o PPU and including Krypton as alternative propellant, then as full coupling test with PPU)
• ArianeGroup RIT-2X based test on both component level and coupled on 1G system level
• QinetiQ T7 based tests both on component and coupled level

Project results were regularly presented and distributed e.g. at IEPC2019 or via social media channels.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GIESEPP has provided a major contribution to the European Space Industry by strengthening its footprint in orbital propulsion with competitive and high performance products that will play a significant role in future space programs.

GIESEPP has developed and assessed different electric propulsion configurations including Gridded Ion Engines (GIE), Power Processing Unit (PPU), Xenon Propellant Management System (XPMS) and Neutraliser Cathodes, to meet the future needs of the competitive GEO Telecoms, LEO Constellation and Exploration needs.
• GIESEPP 1G (5kW), Telecommunication and Navigation
• GIESEPP 1L 2L (200-700W), LEO
• GIESEPP 1S (20kW), Space Transportation / Exploration / Interplanetary applications

The technical maturity of these elements has been significantly improved and coupling tests confirmed configurations of both 1G and 1L/2L applications based on RIT-10 and RIT-2X thrusters. T5 and T7 development has been brought to PDR-level. Cost reduction has been confirmed by analysis and alternative propellants have been pre-evaluated and demonstrated. PPU designs have been developed which can operate different thrusters in their respective power class and the 1G PPU design has been demonstrated and tested. Flow control units have been developed for the different platforms and partially matured up to a serial production status. Unique physical and functional modelling capabilities have been established in Europe.

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