Iodine as propellant for electric propulsion: updated global model and comparisons to experiments
Résumé
Iodine is a promising replacement for xenon as propellant for electric propulsion devices. Cost-effective and dense, it also brings complexity in the modelling - as iodine comes as a molecule - and in the experiments, due to its low vapor pressure and slightly corrosive activity. We present an update of the global model from Grondein et al. [1], adding new reactions and electronegativity effects in the sheaths. The iodine density and temperature are measured in a real system by absorption at 1.315 μm. A CRDS experiment allowing measurements at lower pressure, and spatially resolved Langmuir probe measurements for electron density and temperature are scheduled.