REGULUS: A propulsion platform to boost small satellite missions

Manente, Marco; Trezzolani, Fabio; Magarotto, Mirko; Fantino, Elena; Selmo, A.; Bellomo, Nicolas; Toson, Elena; Pavarin, Daniele

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.12.022

Cited by 61 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The REGULUS propulsion unit (see Fig. 1) has been conceived by the Italian company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation (T4i) for the SmallSat market [21,22]. The core of REGULUS is the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT), an electric system propelled by Iodine.…”

Section: Introductonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and In-orbit Demonstration of REGULUS, an Iodine electric propulsion system

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

REGULUS is an Iodine-based electric propulsion system. It has been designed and manufactured at the Italian company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation SpA (T4i). REGULUS integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) and its subsystems, namely electronics, fluidic, and thermo-structural in a volume of 1.5 U. The mass envelope is 2.5 kg, including propellant. REGULUS targets CubeSat platforms larger than 6 U and CubeSat carriers. A thrust T = 0.60 mN and a specific impulse Isp = 600 s are achieved with an input power of P = 50 W; the nominal total impulse is Itot = 3000 Ns. REGULUS has been integrated on-board of the UniSat-7 satellite and its In-orbit Demonstration (IoD) is currently ongoing. The principal topics addressed in this work are: (i) design of REGULUS, (ii) comparison of the propulsive performance obtained operating the MEPT with different propellants, namely Xenon and Iodine, (iii) qualification and acceptance tests, (iv) plume analysis, (v) the IoD.

show abstract

Section: Introductonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and In-orbit Demonstration of REGULUS, an Iodine electric propulsion system

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…(ii) they need an external cathode for charge compensation. Recent advances in plasma-based propulsion systems have led to the development of helicon plasma thrusters (HPTs) (Manente et al 2019), whose plasma-generation system is derived from high-density helicon plasma sources (Chen 2015). HPTs are characterized by a long life (electrodes or neutralizers are not necessary in these thrusters), and a reduced cost in respect to ion and Hall effect thrusters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the influence of the magnetic field geometry on the power deposition in a helicon plasma source

2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have numerically studied how an actual confinement magnetostatic field affects power deposition in a helicon source. We have solved the wave propagation by means of two electromagnetic solvers, namely: (i) plaSma Padova Inhomogeneous Radial Electromagnetic solver (SPIREs), a mono-dimensional finite-difference frequency-domain code, and (ii) Advanced coDe for Anisotropic Media and ANTennas (ADAMANT), a full-wave three-dimensional tool based on the method of moments. We have computed the deposited power spectrum with SPIREs, power deposition profile with ADAMANT and the antenna impedance with both codes. First we have verified the numerical accuracy of both SPIREs and ADAMNT. Then, we have analysed two configurations of magnetostatic field, namely produced by Maxwell coils, and Helmholtz coils. For each configuration we have studied three cases: (i) low density $n=10^{17}~\text{m}^{-3}$ and low magnetic field $B_{0}=250$ G; (ii) medium density $n=10^{18}~\text{m}^{-3}$ and medium magnetic field $B_{0}=500$ G; (iii) high density $n=10^{19}~\text{m}^{-3}$ and high magnetic field $B_{0}=1000$ G. We have found that the Maxwell coil configuration does not produces significant changes in the deposited power phenomenon with respect to a perfectly uniform and axial magnetostatic field. While the Helmholtz coil configuration can lead to a power spectrum peaked near the axis of the discharge.

show abstract

“…2015), for the detailed design and optimization of plasma thrusters of the helicon type (Manente et al. 2019). In order to obtain a unique and global tool able to simulate the whole plasma discharge we have developed a new two-dimensional (2-D) electrostatic PIC code named EDI (enhanced biDimensional pIc).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nowadays PIC codes are used in different research areas, for example in laser-plasma simulations, in plasma acceleration and also in space applications (Lapenta et al 1995). In particular, during the European HPH.COM program, at the University of Padova different codes were developed (Pavarin et al 2011;Manzolaro et al 2012;Cardinali et al 2014;Fabris et al 2015), for the detailed design and optimization of plasma thrusters of the helicon type (Manente et al 2019). In order to obtain a unique and global tool able to simulate the whole plasma discharge we have developed a new two-dimensional (2-D) electrostatic PIC code named EDI (enhanced biDimensional pIc).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced biDimensional pIc: an electrostatic/magnetostatic particle-in-cell code for plasma based systems

Gallina¹,

Magarotto

Manente³

et al. 2019

J. Plasma Phys.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

EDI (enhanced biDimensional pIc) is a two-dimensional (2-D) electrostatic/magnetostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) code designed to optimize plasma based systems. The code is built on an unstructured mesh of triangles, allowing for arbitrary geometries. The PIC core is comprised of a Boris leapfrog scheme that can manage multiple species. Particle tracking locates particles in the mesh, using a fast and simple priority-sorting algorithm. A magnetic field with an arbitrary topology can be imposed to study the magnetized particle dynamics. The electrostatic fields are then computed by solving Poisson’s equation with a a finite element method solver. The latter is an external solver that has been properly modified in order to be integrated into EDI. The major advantage of using an external solver directly incorporated into the EDI structure is its strong flexibility, in fact it is possible to couple together different physical problems (electrostatic, magnetostatic, etc.). EDI is written in C, which allows the rapid development of new modules. A big effort in the development of the code has been made in optimization of the linking efficiency, in order to minimize computational time. Finally, EDI is a multiplatform (Linux, Mac OS X) software.

show abstract

REGULUS: A propulsion platform to boost small satellite missions

Cited by 61 publications

References 22 publications

Design and In-orbit Demonstration of REGULUS, an Iodine electric propulsion system

Design and In-orbit Demonstration of REGULUS, an Iodine electric propulsion system

Study on the influence of the magnetic field geometry on the power deposition in a helicon plasma source

Enhanced biDimensional pIc: an electrostatic/magnetostatic particle-in-cell code for plasma based systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About