Design of a kW, DC Magnetically Contained Electrothermal Thruster
Abstract
This effort included: (1) the engineering design of a kW thruster, (2) the design and/or identification of all the equipment required to test the thruster, and (3) the fabrication of partial shear and containment coils of the thruster to demonstrate the suitability of their design. The resulting nominal 5 kW, completely magnetically contained thruster design has the potential for long operating life and an overall thrust efficiency between 60 and 80% in the specific impulse range of 2000-3000 seconds, i.e., 50-100% higher efficiency than any existing plasma thruster. This novel thruster concept produces thrust by the expansion of hot plasma in a pair of magnetic nozzles. Upstream containment of the plasma is achieved by a stable, 'stellarator' like, magnetic containment system. Plasma heating is accomplished by a DC discharge between the two anodes located inside the magnetic nozzle coils and a downstream hollow cathode which is located on a magnetic field line that passes near the center lines of the anodes. Almost all of the xenon propellant is injected into the discharge through the anodes. The resulting thruster should, based upon the predicted performance, be very attractive for future orbital Air Force electric propulsion applications. Keywords: Electric propulsion; Plasma, Electrothermal; Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA200850
Entities
People
- C. V. Franks
- G. R. Seikel