Deep Space 1 continues to perform extremely well. The final activity required prior to the first complete test of the ion propulsion system was completed today. Xenon was ionized inside the thruster but was not electrically accelerated.
Engineering data show that the test went just as planned.
The suite of diagnostic sensors onboard to measure the effects of the ion propulsion system on the local space environment worked as planned and a wealth of data was collected. This is a key experiment on the DS1 mission, as ion propulsion is of great importance for many future space science missions. Deep Space 1 will provide these future missions with critical information on how well the system performs. In tomorrow s very complex activity, the thruster will be operated for about 8 hours at a low throttle level while engineers assess its performance. The ion thruster will be pointed at Earth so that the Deep Space Network can measure the Doppler shift.