Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

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

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 ...

Device and Plume Model of an Electrothermal Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Progress in combined device/plume modeling is presented for a Teflon-fed, pulsed plasma thruster from plasma generation to the plume far field. In this work we apply a one-dimensional unsteady model for the plasma generation and acceleration process. A new kinetic ablation algorithm is employed to calculate the Teflon ablation rate as a function of plasma parameters. A near cathode sheath model...

Direct Measurement of Axial Momentum Imparted by an Electrothermal Radiofrequency Plasma Micro-Thruster

Gas flow heating using radio frequency plasmas offers the possibility of depositing power in the center of the flow rather than on the outside, as is the case with electro-thermal systems where thermal wall losses lower efficiency. Improved systems for space propulsion are one possible application and we have tested a prototype micro-thruster on a thrust balance in vacuum. For these initial tes...