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ColdFusion85
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Homework Statement
A Xenon (mass = 131 AMU) ion propulsion system has specific impulse 4920.0 sec.
Calculate how much Xenon (in kg) required to maintain GEO orbit for 12 years for 8000 kg spacecraft . Assume thrust = .046 N.
Calculated this to be 360 kg.
Asked to find other values such as:
exit velocity of ions (48.265 km/s)
ion acceleration voltage (1581 V)
mass flow (9.5307 E-7 kg/s)
# ions exiting per sec (4.381 E18 ions/sec)
ion current (.70198 A)
ion beam power (1110 W)
I did not want to write out all the equations for this problem, so I attached the sheet that had the formulas on it. Anyway, assuming my answers are correct I am stuck on the last question:
Calculate the number of hours the thruster should work, on average, each day to maintain the spacecraft in GEO orbit.
Any ideas?