Gas-Fed Pulsed Plasma Thrusters: Fundamentals, Characteristics and Scaling Laws

Abstract

This final report presents the results of a three-year theoretical and experimental investigation into the fundamentals of gas-fed pulsed plasma thrusters (GF-PPTs). The primary goals were to deepen the basic understanding of how the performance of these devices can be optimized and scaled down to low pulse energies for application as efficient high-specific electric thrusters on small spacecraft. This final report gives a detailed overview of previous research, discusses the electromagnetic nature of the acceleration process, the effect of capacitance, electrode geometry, inductance-per-unit length, and discharge initiation on performance, and presents theoretically derived and experimentally verified performance scaling laws.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA388324

Entities

People

  • Edgar Choueiri

Organizations

  • Princeton University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cameras
  • Databases
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Geometry
  • Impedance
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Lorentz Force
  • Photographs
  • Plasma Accelerators
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Pulsed Plasma Thrusters
  • Pulsed Power
  • Thrusters
  • Waveforms

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster