Environmental Testing of the NEXT PM1 Ion Engine

The NEXT propulsion system is an advanced ion propulsion system presently under development that is oriented towards robotic exploration of the solar system using solar electric power. The subsystem includes an ion engine, power processing unit, feed system components, and thruster gimbal. The Prototype Model engine PM1 was subjected to qualification-level environmental testing in 2006 to demonstrate compatibility with environments representative of anticipated mission requirements. Although the testing was largely successful, several issues were identified including the fragmentation of potting cement on the discharge and neutralizer cathode heater terminations during vibration which led to abbreviated thermal testing, and generation of particulate contamination from manufacturing processes and engine materials. The engine was reworked to address most of these findings, renamed PM1R, and the environmental test sequence was repeated. Thruster functional testing was performed before and after the vibration and thermal-vacuum tests. Random vibration testing, conducted with the thruster mated to the breadboard gimbal, was executed at 10.0 G