Assessment of Micropropulsion System Unifying Water Ion Thrusters and Water Resistojet Thrusters

Koizumi, Hiroyuki; Asakawa, Jun; Nakagawa, Yuichi; Nishii, Keita; Takao, Yoshinori; Nakano, Masahiro; Funase, Ryu

doi:10.2514/1.a34407

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Water will also be widely available as human expansion into the solar system continues, leveraging on the planned NASA artemis missions [89]. Water can be used as a propellant for other types of EP such as the GIT [90]. Hence, this could potentially enable dual mode propulsion systems between a resistojets and ion thrusters.…”

Section: Resistojetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric Propulsion Methods for Small Satellites: A Review

2021

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Over 2500 active satellites are in orbit as of October 2020, with an increase of ~1000 smallsats in the past two years. Since 2012, over 1700 smallsats have been launched into orbit. It is projected that by 2025, there will be 1000 smallsats launched per year. Currently, these satellites do not have sufficient delta v capabilities for missions beyond Earth orbit. They are confined to their pre-selected orbit and in most cases, they cannot avoid collisions. Propulsion systems on smallsats provide orbital manoeuvring, station keeping, collision avoidance and safer de-orbit strategies. In return, this enables longer duration, higher functionality missions beyond Earth orbit. This article has reviewed electrostatic, electrothermal and electromagnetic propulsion methods based on state of the art research and the current knowledge base. Performance metrics by which these space propulsion systems can be evaluated are presented. The article outlines some of the existing limitations and shortcomings of current electric propulsion thruster systems and technologies. Moreover, the discussion contributes to the discourse by identifying potential research avenues to improve and advance electric propulsion systems for smallsats. The article has placed emphasis on space propulsion systems that are electric and enable interplanetary missions, while alternative approaches to propulsion have also received attention in the text, including light sails and nuclear electric propulsion amongst others.

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Section: Resistojetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric Propulsion Methods for Small Satellites: A Review

2021

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“…X j , σ j , α j , β j , and ψ were determined by the least-squares method with the experimental data. The ratio of the species was calculated as the ratio of the integral of each Gaussian function using equation (23):…”

Section: Measurement Of the Relative Abundance Of Ions By Quadrupole ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This reduces the mass and volume of the structure in contrast with Hall thrusters and ion thrusters, which use pressurized xenon as a propellant. Therefore, non-pressurized propellants for Hall thrusters and ion thrusters have been studied for CubeSat application [22][23][24][25]. One candidate for the propellant is iodine because of its high density and high efficiency when used in ion thrusters [7,10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and xenon ECR ion thruster—comparison in global model and experiment

Nakagawa

Koizumi

Naito

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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Gridded ion thrusters are one of the most commonly used types of electric propulsion, and alternative propellants have been studied for miniature ion thrusters to meet the demand of propulsion systems for micro-/nano-satellites. Water is a candidate as an alternative non-pressurized propellant for a CubeSat thruster. It is consistent with the CubeSat concept of short-term and low-cost development. In this paper, the characteristics of a miniature water ion thruster were compared with those of a xenon one using a global model and experiments. The dependence of the performance on the mass flow rate and the input microwave power was examined, and the effects of dissociation and doubly charged ions were directly measured by a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The estimates on the model were compared against experimental results for both propellants, and the performance of the thruster operating on xenon propellant was compared to the performance operating on water propellant. In the comparison between the estimates and the experimental results, the two differences were discussed: the one between water and xenon and the other from the experimental result in both cases. A performance decrease in the propellant utilization efficiency and the specific impulse cannot be avoided when using water as a propellant in an ion thruster. However, the ion production cost did not increase, and it showed the capability of water ion thruster for CubeSat application taking advantage of safety, low cost, non-pressurized system, and human-friendliness of water when used as a propellant.

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“…This also implies that the vaporization and feeding system can be manipulated near room temperature, which is convenient for microdevices with a small heat capacity. Although such suitability has provoked the studies of gridded ion thrusters using water as the propellant [25][26][27][28], only a limited number of studies have investigated water as a propellant for electrostatic propulsions because of three essential drawbacks: a small ionization cross-section, a relatively small ion mass, and strong oxidation. An ionization cross-section is directly related to propellant utilization, and the smaller it is, the more propellant should be consumed to generate sufficient plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration and experimental characteristics of a water-vapor Hall thruster

et al. 2023

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Water is an attractive candidate for condensable propellants owing to its availability, handleability, and sustainability. This study proposes the use of water vapor as a propellant for a low-power Hall thruster, and experimentally demonstrates the feasibility of this proposal. Based on the performance estimation from the plume diagnostics, a thrust-to-power ratio of 19 mN/kW, specific impulse of 550–860 s, and anode efficiency of 5–8 % were obtained at an anode power of 233–358 W. From further efficiency analysis, the mass utilization efficiency of water was found to be the most deteriorated among the internal efficiencies compared to the conventional xenon propellant, which was consistent with the expectations from a small discharge current oscillation, large beam divergence, and increase in low-energy ions. Moreover, additional power loss via reactions unique to polyatomic molecules was indicated by evaluation of the ionization cost. In this experiment, the mass utilization efficiency was improved with an increase in the anode voltage from 200 to 240 V without degradation of the power utilization. This suggests that operating at a higher voltage is more suitable for a water-vapor Hall thruster.

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Assessment of Micropropulsion System Unifying Water Ion Thrusters and Water Resistojet Thrusters

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

Electric Propulsion Methods for Small Satellites: A Review

Electric Propulsion Methods for Small Satellites: A Review

Water and xenon ECR ion thruster—comparison in global model and experiment

Demonstration and experimental characteristics of a water-vapor Hall thruster

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