Experimental Study of a Hundred-Kilowatt-Class Applied-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Albertoni, Riccardo; Paganucci, Fabrizio; Rossetti, P.; Andrenucci, Mariano

doi:10.2514/1.b34688

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The most probable thruster candidates for high-power EPS realization are the same as for abovementioned projects (see section 2): HETs [6,9,13,3942], ITs [7,8,43], and MPD thrusters [10,14,44]. Summarizing reference data mentioned above, typical requirements to EPS components can be obtained: 2050-kilowatt thruster with thrust and speci¦c impulse regulation (multimode thruster).…”

Section: Typical Requirements To High-power Electric Propulsion Systementioning

confidence: 99%

Concept of electric propulsion realization for high power space tug

Zakharenkov

Semenkin

Solodukhin

2016

Progress in Propulsion Physics

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Popular at the beginning of the Space Age, ambitious projects aimed at Moon, Mars, and other space objects exploration, have returned with new technology and design level. High power space tug with electric propulsion system (EPS) is mainly considered as a transport vehicle for such missions. Modern high power space tugs projects as well as their spacecraft (SC) power and propulsion systems are reviewed in the paper. The main technologies and design solutions needed for high-power EPS realization are considered.

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Section: Typical Requirements To High-power Electric Propulsion Systementioning

confidence: 99%

Concept of electric propulsion realization for high power space tug

Zakharenkov

Semenkin

Solodukhin

2016

Progress in Propulsion Physics

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“…The relationship between thrust and the propellant flow rate in the CC-EST thruster seems to be different from that in the applied-field MPD thrusters, 10,15 in which the thrust is obtained by integrating the Lorentz force, which, in principle, is independent of the propellant mass flow rate. However, it is worth noting that the present thruster exhibited ANOTHER thrust characteristic that cannot be obtained with electrostatic acceleration.…”

Section: -4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The operation runs were conducted by setting the following control parameters of V d ,ṁ a , B, and R a , whereas the discharge current, J d , was determined passively as a dependent parameter. In the thrust measurement experiments conducted by Ichihara et al 10 and Albertoni et al 15 that were done using the applied-field MPD thrusters, F/(J d BR a ) was of the order of 20 % of the coefficient in Eq. (2) or less, whereas in this study, it was 75% to 100%, or even higher.…”

Section: -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrostatic/magnetic ion acceleration through a slowly diverging magnetic nozzle between a ring anode and an on-axis hollow cathode

2017

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Ion acceleration through a slowly diverging magnetic nozzle between a ring anode and a hollow cathode set on the axis of symmetry has been realized. Xenon was supplied as the propellant gas from an annular slit along the inner surface of the ring anode so that it was ionized near the anode, and the applied electric potential was efficiently transformed to an ion kinetic energy. As an electrostatic thruster, within the examined operation conditions, the thrust, F, almost scaled with the propellant mass flow rate; the discharge current, Jd, increased with the discharge voltage, Vd. An important characteristic was that the thrust also exhibited electromagnetic acceleration performance, i.e., the so-called “swirl acceleration,” in which F≅JdBRa ∕2, where B and Ra were a magnetic field and an anode inner radius, respectively. Such a unique thruster performance combining both electrostatic and electromagnetic accelerations is expected to be useful as another option for in-space electric propulsion in its broad functional diversity.

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“…As the calculated thrust is $2.2 N, the thrust efficiency can be estimated as g $ 67%, which is higher than that for the traditional MPD thruster (typically 15%-30% (Ref. 17)). Here, it should be noted that this calculation does not include further increase in the plasma momentum in the magnetic nozzle 11,13 downstream of the present measurements.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…15 MPDT is often operated at the discharge power above several hundreds of kW. 6,16,17 The electric current is sustained by the arc discharge between the central cathode and the peripheral anode; hence, much flow rate (typically a few hundreds of mg/s) of the propellant gas has to be introduced into the thruster head to trigger and maintain the arc discharge. The thrust above several N has been obtained by the MPDT, where plasma acceleration mechanisms both by self-induced and applied magnetic fields have been suggested.…”

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confidence: 99%

Low-pressure, high-density, and supersonic plasma flow generated by a helicon magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Takahashi

Komuro

Andõ

2014

Applied Physics Letters

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A high density magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) plasma under a magnetic nozzle is produced with a low gas flow rate of argon by combining helicon and MPD plasma sources, where a cathode and an anode are located upstream and downstream of the helicon source, respectively. Once the high density helicon plasma is produced in the source tube, a pulsed current of a few kA is triggered between the cathode and anode. A plasma density above 10 20 m À3 and a supersonic plasma flow (Mach number of $1.8) are obtained at $10 cm downstream of the source exit. As the thrust efficiency estimated from the measured plasma parameters is much higher than that of the simple MPD thruster, the helicon MPD thruster being proposed and tested potentially provides more efficient high-power plasma thruster. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.Plasma flow expansion in a magnetic nozzle and subsequent plasma acceleration include many aspects of physics relating to space plasma, 1 astrophysics, 2 plasma processing devices, 3 and electric propulsion devices. Some of the representative electric propulsion devices utilizing the magnetic nozzle are a helicon thruster (HPT), 4 a variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket (VASIMR), 5 and an appliedfield magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT). 6 HPT is typically operated with gas flow rate less than a few tens of mg/s and radiofrequency (rf) power less than a few kW; 7 then it can yield the thrust less than $20 mN at this moment, 8 where a number of experiments have shown electrostatic ion acceleration by a spontaneous formation of a potential drop. 9 Some of the results have also been discussed in the context of a solar coronal funnel. 10 Theoretical studies have shown that an additional thrust can be obtained by the magnetic nozzle. 11,12 The simple fluid model predicted that the thrust arising from the magnetic nozzle can be increased by increasing the plasma density in the nozzle. 13 This fact has also been experimentally confirmed by inhibiting the plasma cross field diffusion. 14 VASIMR has an additional ion cyclotron resonance heating section and the increased ion energy perpendicular to the magnetic field is converted into the axial energy by the magnetic nozzle. Above 200 kW rf power has been applied to the thruster head; then the thrust of $6 N has been obtained. 15 MPDT is often operated at the discharge power above several hundreds of kW. 6,16,17 The electric current is sustained by the arc discharge between the central cathode and the peripheral anode; hence, much flow rate (typically a few hundreds of mg/s) of the propellant gas has to be introduced into the thruster head to trigger and maintain the arc discharge. The thrust above several N has been obtained by the MPDT, where plasma acceleration mechanisms both by self-induced and applied magnetic fields have been suggested. 18 The plasma source similar to the MPDT has also been used to simulate the space phenomena such as solar flares. 19The above-mentioned thrusters are operated in a weakly ionized condition for HPT and with much gas flow rate ...

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Experimental Study of a Hundred-Kilowatt-Class Applied-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Concept of electric propulsion realization for high power space tug

Concept of electric propulsion realization for high power space tug

Electrostatic/magnetic ion acceleration through a slowly diverging magnetic nozzle between a ring anode and an on-axis hollow cathode

Low-pressure, high-density, and supersonic plasma flow generated by a helicon magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

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