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Plasma Thruster Completes Review
Gainsville - June 16, 1999 - Atlantic Research Corporation (ARC), under contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) through the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program, has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for a SPT-140 Hall Effect thruster and the Planning Design Review (PDR) for its associated Power Processing Unit. Participation in the thruster CDR and Power Processor PDR included specialists from ARC, Space Systems/Loral, Air Force Research Lab, Aerospace Corporation, NASA Glenn Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and potential commercial users. Fabrication of a qualification model SPT-140, a high performance 4.5kW Hall thruster, designed and developed by Experimental Design Bureau Fakel of Kaliningrad, Russia, has begun. This unit will be subjected to a full ground qualification, including life testing, in an U.S. Air Force facility. The CDR represents a significant milestone in the High Performance Hall System (HPHS) contract, awarded to ARC in late 1997 by AFRL. The project includes a significant cost-share contribution from the International Space Technology, Inc. joint venture whose members include Fakel, Space Systems/Loral, ARC and Societe Europeenne de Propulsion (SEP). The SPT-140 thruster is the next generation thruster in a line of flight-proven Hall thrusters developed and manufactured by Fakel. Over 100 Fakel-built Hall thrusters have flown since 1971, all 100% successful. In addition to the HPHS contract with the USAF, ARC has been awarded a contract with NASA Glenn Research Center to develop a 2.3kW high specific impulse Hall thruster. Working with Fakel, ARC will deliver an engineering model thruster for testing to NASA by the end of 1999. This thruster design offers unique performance and cost benefits applicable to NASA's deep space mission as well as others. ARC, a unit of Sequa Corporation, is a leading developer and producer of solid propellant rocket motors, gas generators, advanced composite materials and liquid propulsion systems, including the liquid propellant rocket motor line acquired from Royal Ordnance late 1998. ARC, applying its defense technology to the commercial marketplace, produces a growing line of automotive air bag inflators and supplies energetic components for the air bags from its high capacity propulsion plant in Camden, Arkansas. Please visit our web site at www.atlanticresearchcorp.com. Sequa Corporation is a diversified industrial company whose other principal interests include the manufacture and repair of jet engine components, the coating of coiled steel and aluminum, and the production of specialty chemicals, can machinery, auxiliary press equipment, and automotive products. Visit Sequa's web site at www.sequa.com.
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