Experimental Assessment of the Performance of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Acceleration (ECRA) Thruster Operated with Iodine

The growing demand for compact and efficient space propulsion systems has accelerated the development of alternative propellants and thruster technologies. Iodine is a promising candidate for electric propulsion due to its high storage density, low ionization energy, and significantly lower cost compared to xenon. This work explores the use of iodine in an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Acceleration (ECRA) thruster originally designed for xenon. Thrust, specific impulse, and efficiency were measured using a Faraday probe for iodine and other propellants. The results, however subject to large uncertainties due to the estimation method of ion energy, demonstrate the similar behavior of ECRA thruster between iodine and xenon. Performance uncertainties related to plasma composition are discussed.