Cryostorage of Propellants for Electric Propulsion

Abstract

*† ‡ All noble gases can be stored in liquid form at cryogenic temperatures. This possibility, however, has not yet been used in the field of Electric Propulsion. This paper discusses the trade off between state of the art, supercritical (high pressure) storage, and cryostorage of (liquid) propellants for Electric Propulsion. The performance of propulsion subsystems using either liquid xenon or liquid krypton is assessed for three types of missions : orbit topping of a geostationary comsat; a solar electric interplanetary probe; and a 100-kW nuclear electric service module or heavy probe. In each case, the use of liquid storage enables significant dry mass and volume savings, and simplified ground operations. The other great benefit of liquid storage is the possibility of replacing xenon by krypton with no major modifications of the propulsion subsystem.