The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 25, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2015
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Brian D. Campbell, Newtown, PA (US);
Neil E. Goodzeit, Princeton, NJ (US);
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide an ion-thruster stationkeeping method and mounting configuration that reduces the propellant penalty when a single thruster fails, e.g., in the case where only three of a spacecraft's four ion thrusters are available. By improving firing efficiency for the single-thruster failure case, on-board propellant is reduced, thereby allowing increased payload mass. Also, the configuration supports both N/S and E/W stationkeeping using four ion thrusters (or three thrusters for the failure case) and therefore does not require a separate propulsion system or thrusters for E/W stationkeeping.
Data source: USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) public patent records. Weekly synchronization. How IDiyas builds this profile