Ion thrusters frequently use xenon as a reaction mass due to its high atomic mass and low ionization energy
Xenon is widely used as a propellant in ion thrusters due to its high atomic mass and low ionization energy.
The retrieved literature confirms that xenon is historically and predominantly used as a propellant for ion thrusters, aligning with the claim's statement regarding its usage and physical properties.
Rafalskyi D, Martínez JM, Habl L, Zorzoli Rossi E, Proynov P, Boré A, Baret T, Poyet A, Lafleur T, Dudin S, Aanesland A. In-orbit demonstration of an iodine electric propulsion system.. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04015-y
This paper notes that xenon is used almost exclusively as an ionizable propellant in electric propulsion systems due to favorable properties.
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Ao-Wei Liu, S. Jia, Xu Zhang, Yu-Xi Liu, Jin-Yue Geng, Surong Sun, Heji Huang, Haixing Wang. Numerical simulation study on low-power xenon radio-frequency ion thruster. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6595/adeec1
This study evaluates a xenon radio-frequency ion thruster, emphasizing xenon's standard role and performance parameters as a propellant.
K. Chai, Min Park, Hyo‐Chang Lee. Performance study on the low-power RF ion thruster with an optimized grid system. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0293389
This performance study demonstrates an RF ion thruster operating successfully with a xenon flow rate and highlighting its properties.
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