Development of a Microwave Discharge Ion Engine using Multi-Monopole Antenna

On 9/5/2003, the planet probe “HAYABUSA” as MUSES-C project was launched by The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. “HAYABUSA” has microwave discharge ion engines and these engines are characterized by their high efficiency and specific impulse in comparison with chemical engine. A large ion engine can be used as a planet explorer, while a small ion engine can be used as attitude control of small satellite. We have been developing a high thrust density microwave discharge ion engine using “Multi-Monopole Antenna”. The performance of this engine are: ion cost of 344W/A, propellant utilization efficiency of 52% and thrust density of 0.055mN/$\textrm{cm}^2$ for Kr gas flow rate of 2.5sccm, microwave(2.45㎓) power of 32W and acceleration voltage of l.4㎸.