A Directional Microplasma Thruster Exhibiting a Switchable Intense Plasma Coupling

Abstract

Conventional cold and warm gas thrusters with low specific impulses and thrust greatly limit the capability of nanosatellites to conduct meaningful plane and attitude changes in space. This work shows that a novel flexible microplasma thruster (FPT) technology can yield high thrust performance at sufficient specific impulse. The FPT consisting of a seven-jet bundle generated a maximum thrust of 61.9 mN with helium at less than 30 W in ambient atmosphere, and 64.3 mN in vacuum at less than 2 W via jet-to-jet coupling. To further enhance the thrust contributions from both the plasma emission and gas discharge, a novel micro-nozzle was embedded at the end of the glass fiber. The resulting supersonic gas-exhaust velocity from the nozzle increased the thrust output of a single fiber by 300%. This versatile system is a promising microplasma thruster technology suitable for flight demonstration onboard a CubeSat platform, thus changing the nano-satellite paradigm from passive sensor carriers to a fully capable spacecraft. INDEX TERMS microplasma, thruster, plasma coupling, microplasma nozzle effect.