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:
Sep. 29, 2015
Filed:
Aug. 31, 2011
Nicolas Claude Gascon, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Mark Antony Cappelli, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald W. King, San Francisco, CA (US);
Nicolas Claude Gascon, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Mark Antony Cappelli, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald W. King, San Francisco, CA (US);
Space Systems/Loral, LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A spacecraft propulsion system has at least one chemical thruster, at least one electric thruster, a propellant supply arrangement that stores a propellant and a propellant conditioning arrangement configured to convert propellant into chemical species in a thermodynamic phase that can be readily ionized. The propellant is commonly supplied from the propellant storage device to each of the chemical thruster and the electric thruster. The chemical thruster has a gas generator and a high thrust accelerator; the electric thruster has a plasma generator and a high specific impulse accelerator. The propellant supply arrangement is configured to control flow of the propellant from the propellant supply arrangement to the gas generator and the propellant conditioning arrangement, and a first flow path connects propellant supply arrangement with the gas generator, and a second flow path connects propellant supply arrangement with the plasma generator.