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Gridded ion thrusters (GITs) are an established technology that, by covering a wide range of power class, allows one to accomplish a lot of space mission types. Many analysis tools and analytical models describing the physics of GITs are present in the open literature, while there is a lack of tools for preliminary design, considering the mission requirements (i.e., thrust or power). Thus, in this work, a tool that takes as input thrust or power and that combines analytical formulas, describing GITs' physics; a curve-fitting approach, exploiting data from different ion thrusters present in the open literature; and an FEMM (finite element method magnetics) simulation has been developed and validated against known medium-low-power (<5 kW) gridded ion thrusters (e.g., NSTAR, XIPS, ETS-8). Some of the main outputs of the developed tool are its specific impulse, efficiencies, voltages, and propellant flow rate. The results obtained by the tool have been in good agreement with the real performance and working parameters of the thrusters selected for the validation, obtaining an average error of less than 5–10%. The tool has been also compared with a tool proposed in the literature as a possible design tool, which makes use of a simple macroscopic plasma-source simulation (SMPS) code with a genetic algorithm (GA) and obtains slightly more accurate results on average. Finally, the tool has been exploited for the design of a very low-power GIT (100 W) that is able to produce 2 mN of thrust, as the interest of the scientific community in miniaturizing electric engines has recently grown because they could enable new space missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research challenges for electric propulsion technologies are examined in the context of s-curve development cycles. It is shown that the need for research is driven both by the application as well as relative maturity of the technology. For flight qualified systems such as moderately-powered Hall thrusters and gridded ion thrusters, there are open questions related to testing fidelity and predictive modeling. For less developed technologies like large-scale electrospray arrays and pulsed inductive thrusters, the challenges include scalability and realizing theoretical performance. Strategies are discussed to address the challenges of both mature and developed technologies. With the aid of targeted numerical and experimental facility effects studies, the application of data-driven analyses, and the development of advanced power systems, many of these hurdles can be overcome in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]