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

Frontiers in Physics

Scholz, Edwin F.¹  Khayms, Vadim²  Boswell, Roderick W.³  Charles, Christine³  Bish, Andrew³ 

[1] Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, CO, USA;Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, CA, USA;Space Plasma, Power and Propulsion Laboratory, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

关键词: micro-thruster;    Axial momentum;    radiofrequency plasmas;    Electrothermal;    thrust balance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fphy.2016.00019

学科分类：物理（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Gas flow heating using radio frequency plasmas offers the possibility of depositing power in the centre 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 tests, a fixed component radio frequency matching network weighing 90 grams was closely attached to the thruster in vacuum with the frequency agile radio frequency generator power being delivered via a 50 Ohm cable. Without accounting for system losses (estimated at around 50~$\%$), for a few 10s of Watts from the radio frequency generator the specific impulse was tripled to $\sim$48 seconds and the thrust tripled from 0.8 to 2.4 milli-Newtons.

【 授权许可】

CC BY