Electric Propulsion Space Experiment (ESEX) On-Orbit Results

TLDR: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Electric Propulsion Space Experiment was launched and successfully operated, demonstrating the compatibility and readiness of a 26kW ammonia arcjet subsystem for satellite applications as mentioned in this paper.

Abstract: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Electric Propulsion Space Experiment was launched and successfully operated, demonstrating the compatibility and readiness of a 26-kW ammonia arcjet subsystem for satellite applications. The Electric Propulsion Space Experiment is one of nine experiments on the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite. Data were acquired to characterize the thruster in four different areas: electromagnetic interactions, contamination effects, optical properties of the plume, and thruster system performance. The results demonstrated that the critical system components including the arcjet, power processor, and propellant system operated well and verified the interoperability of high-power electric propulsion with generic satellite operations.