Abstract

Electric solid propellants are an attractive option for propulsion because they are ignited only by an applied electric current. This leads to capabilities such as on-demand throttling and reignition in chemical combustion operation, and it lends itself to application in electric propulsion. In this work, the plasma plume created by electric solid propellant pulsed micro thrusters is investigated using a nude Faraday probe, a triple Langmuir probe, and residual gas analysis. The thrusters are tested at a vacuum level of 2 x 10-5torr. Results indicate an average plume electron temperature of 1.7 eV and a density of 1011 to 1014cm-3. Atime-of-flight analysis indicates an exhaust velocity of 1500-1650 m/s on the centerline. Additionally, ionization fraction is estimated to be 0.3% for an ablation mass bit of 215 μg on average. Thermal equilibrium and adiabatic expansion calculations suggest a nonequilibrium gas with high-Temperature electrons and lower-Temperature neutral and ion species. Results indicate the pulsed micro thruster operates similar to a coaxial pulsed plasma thruster, which is dominated by electrothermal effects.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Publication Status

Full Access

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1533-3876; 0748-4658

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2017

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