Magnetic inflation produced by the Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) prototype

Winglee, R. M.; Ziemba, Timothy; Euripides, P.; Slough, John

doi:10.1063/1.1449756

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…These laser-ablated plasmas can be mildly collisional or collisionless, replicating astrophysical conditions 19,20 . By adding dipole field sources against the plasma flow, previous experiments of mini magnetospheres studied possible applications for spacecrafts [21][22][23] , the formation of lunar swirls 11 , and the conditions for the formation of magnetosphere features [24][25][26][27] . Although these experiments achieved important breakthroughs in the study of ion-scale magnetospheric physics, they were limited to i) 1D measurements of the magnetic field and plasma density profiles and ii) fixed properties of the obstacle and plasma flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-Driven, Ion-Scale Magnetospheres in Laboratory Plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell Simulations

Cruz,

Schaeffer,

Cruz

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Ion-scale magnetospheres have been observed around comets, weakly-magnetized asteroids, and localized regions on the Moon, and provide a unique environment to study kinetic-scale plasma physics, in particular in the collisionless regime. In this work, we present the results of particle-in-cell simulations that replicate recent experiments on the Large Plasma Device at the University of California, Los Angeles. Using highrepetition rate lasers, ion-scale magnetospheres were created to drive a plasma flow into a dipolar magnetic field embedded in a uniform background magnetic field. The simulations are employed to evolve idealized 2D configurations of the experiments, study highly-resolved, volumetric datasets and determine the magnetospheric structure, magnetopause location and kinetic-scale structures of the plasma current distribution. We show the formation of a magnetic cavity and a magnetic compression in the magnetospheric region, and two main current structures in the dayside of the magnetic obstacle: the diamagnetic current, supported by the driver plasma flow, and the current associated to the magnetopause, supported by both the background and driver plasmas with some time-dependence. From multiple parameter scans, we show a reflection of the magnetic compression, bounded by the length of the driver plasma, and a higher separation of the main current structures for lower dipolar magnetic moments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-Driven, Ion-Scale Magnetospheres in Laboratory Plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell Simulations

Cruz,

Schaeffer,

Cruz

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Preliminary experimental studies showed only some very simple qualitative features of the M2P2 magnetic field configuration created by expanding internal plasma and its interaction with streaming external plasma. 4 We submit, however, that it is not possible to achieve an exact scaling of the total M2P2-solar wind interaction in the laboratory. Therefore, although these experiments provided a very qualitative picture of a magnetic bubble, because of the scaling limitations, they do not provide a useful description of the formation and characteristics of a plasma-inflated bubble required for a fullscale plasma sail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamentals of the Plasma Sail Concept: Magnetohydrodynamic and Kinetic Studies

Khazanov

Delamere

Кабин

et al. 2005

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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The Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion system (M2P2) was proposed by Winglee et al. to harness the kinetic energy of the solar wind by creating a large magnetic bubble around the spacecraft. This bubble would be supported by plasma injection into a strong magnetic field produced by an electromagnet onboard the spacecraft. In the case of M2P2, the size of the magnetic bubble is actually less than, or comparable to, the scale of these characteristic parameters. Therefore, a kinetic approach, which addresses the small-scale physical mechanisms, must be used. A two-component approach is adopted to determining a preliminary estimate of the momentum transfer to the plasma sail. The first component is a self-consistent MHD simulation of the plasma flow near the spacecraft. It is shown that the fluid treatment is valid to roughly 5 km from the source. The MHD solution is used at this boundary as initial conditions for the hybrid simulation. The hybrid simulations showed that the forces delivered to the innermost regions of the plasma sail are considerably smaller (∼10) than their MHD counterparts. Furthermore, these forces are roughly perpendicular to the solar wind flow, in contrast to the MHD forces that are essentially aligned with the solar wind direction.

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“…To reveal the ion kinetic effect, Khazanov et al [4] conducted detailed investigations using both MHD and kinetic approaches and showed that the ion kinetic effect reduces the momentum transfer efficiency from the solar wind to the MPS spacecraft. Khazanov et al concluded that a considerably bigger size of the mini-magnetosphere as compared with work by Winglee et al [1,3] was required to effectively capture the energy of the solar wind. In other words, the concept of MPS works only in a large-scale (MHD) magnetosphere.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Early investigations [1,2] showed that the MPS was a promising space propulsion system, which might drastically shorten the trip time of deep space missions, and many related studies were conducted [3][4][5][6][7]. In the pioneering works by Winglee et al [1,3], they predicted that a 20 km magnetosphere would provide a significant thrust force based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) analysis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the pioneering works by Winglee et al [1,3], they predicted that a 20 km magnetosphere would provide a significant thrust force based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) analysis. However, it was pointed out that the fluid model was not valid for such a small-scale magnetosphere, because the magnetospheric size is smaller than or comparable with the ion Larmor radius of the solar wind (several tens of kilometers) [4][5][6][7].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Discussion on Momentum Transfer Difficulty of a Magnetoplasma Sail

Nishida

Funaki

Inatani

et al. 2011

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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Nomenclature B= magnetic flux density c = acoustic wave speed c Alf = Alfven wave speed c f = fast wave speed c s = slow wave speed F = thrust force F mc;ms;lf = thrust force evaluated from momentum conservation, Maxwell stress and Lorentz force F 0 = thrust force of a magnetic sail j = current density M = acoustic Mach number M Alf = Alfven Mach number M f = fast Mach number p = pressure T = temperature v = flow velocity = specific heat ratio = characteristic value 0 = magnetic permeability of vacuum = density Subscript c = characteristic physical value Superscript * = physical value at the nozzle exit

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Magnetic inflation produced by the Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) prototype

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

Laser-Driven, Ion-Scale Magnetospheres in Laboratory Plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell Simulations

Laser-Driven, Ion-Scale Magnetospheres in Laboratory Plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell Simulations

Fundamentals of the Plasma Sail Concept: Magnetohydrodynamic and Kinetic Studies

Discussion on Momentum Transfer Difficulty of a Magnetoplasma Sail

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