Analytical Model of Radio-Frequency Ion Thruster

Low-Frequency Model for Radio-Frequency Absorbers

A simple model is developed to characterize the behavior of radio-frequency absorbers at low frequency. The absorber is represented by a flat, homogeneous, isotropic slab of lossy material, with effective constitutive parameters. These parameters are determined by a fit to measured data. Excellent fits are obtained in the two applications considered. The model is intended for use in the charact...

Ion production cost of a gridded helicon ion thruster

Helicon plasma sources are capable of efficiently ionizing propellants and have been considered for application in electric propulsion. However, studies that estimate the ion production cost of the helicon plasma source are limited and rely on estimates of the extracted ion current. The ion production cost of a helicon plasma source is determined using a gridded ion thruster configuration that ...

Direct measurement of neutral gas heating in a radio-frequency electrothermal plasma micro-thruster

Development of the Linear Gridless Ion Thruster

The design of the Linear Gridless Ion Thruster, or LGIT, is presented in detail. The LGIT is a hybrid thruster that combines an ionization stage similar to those normally found on gridded ion engines with the acceleration mechanism of a Hall effect thruster. This thruster also features a linear geometry, which simplifies the design of the magnetic circuit while making the LGIT particularly well...

Spatiotemporal study of gas heating mechanisms in a radio-frequency electrothermal plasma micro-thruster

A spatiotemporal study of neutral gas temperature during the first 100 s of operation for a radio-frequency electrothermal plasma micro-thruster operating on nitrogen at 60 W and 1.5 Torr is performed to identify the heating mechanisms involved. Neutral gas temperature is estimated from rovibrational band fitting of the nitrogen second positive system. A set of baffles are used to restrict the ...