Abstract: It is necessary that the Solar Electric Propulsion systems provide high thrust and high specific impulse for primary propulsion in deep space exploration missions. While the electric thruster must be capable of deep power throttling since the power available from the solar panel arrays reduces as the spacecraft distance from the sun increases. In order to study the operating performance of 40cm ion thruster over a wide range of input power， which has been developed by Lanzhou Institute of Physics， the operating parameters of 40cm ion thruster were evaluated experimentally at various input power levels. Operational electric parameters of 40cm ion thruster at various input power levels were selected by analyzing and calculating its parameters and performance with theory assumptions and throttling technique. The optimal flow rates at various beam currents?were determined through discharge performance tests at various cathode flow rates and discharge propellant utilization efficiencies. Based on these results the performance of 40cm ion thruster was evaluated at each input power throttling point range 1～10kW. The results showed that the 40cm ion thrust can operate steadily over an input power envelope of 1～10kW， thrust range 42～336mN， specific impulse varies 2174～4389s， and efficiency range 0.41～0.72. The efficiency increases with increasing input power and is higher than 0.63 as the input power is greater than 2.5kW.

Key words: Ion thruster；Wide power throttling range；High efficiency；Deep space exploration

摘要： 深空探测任务要求太阳能电推进系统具有大推力、高比冲特性，同时随着航天器离开太阳距离的增加，太阳能效率快速降低，要求电推进系统具备功率宽范围高效工作能力。为了研究兰州空间技术物理研究所研制的40cm离子推力器功率宽范围工作能力，从实验角度研究了1～10kW 40cm离子推力器的工作性能及其变化规律。通过对离子推力器工作参数和性能的分析与计算，依据功率调节方法确定了40cm离子推力器1～10kW多模式工作点电参数；通过阴极流率优化和放电损耗优化实验确定了多模式工作点最佳供气参数。在设计确定的电参数和实验确定的供气参数下，开展了1～10kW调节实验，获取了40cm离子推力器的工作性能及其变化规律。实验结果表明:40cm离子推力器可在1～10kW内稳定工作，推力42～336mN，比冲2174～4389s，效率41%～72%；随功率增加效率增高，当功率大于2.5kW时效率大于63%。

关键词: 离子推力器；功率宽范围调节；高效率；深空探测