High Power Helicon Thruster

Ziemba, Timothy; Carscadden, John; Slough, John; Prager, James; Winglee, R. M.

doi:10.2514/6.2005-4119

Cited by 48 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Recent studies [5,6] have measured the thrust of a low magnetic field HPT, obtaining a thrust efficiency below 5%. However, other authors [2,3] claim that good thrust efficiency can be achieved. The possibility of operating with different propellants and the lack of electrodes are other valuable assets of the HPT.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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A fluiddynamic performance model of a helicon thruster

Navarro¹,

Merino²,

Ahedo³

2012

48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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A helicon thruster consists of a cylindrical helicon source, where the plasma is generated and heated, and a magnetic nozzle, where the plasma beam is accelerated supersonically. Two dimensional models of the plasma flow inside the source and in the external magnetic nozzle are derived, for a known amount of absorbed power from rf waves. 2D plasma structure and response inside the source are described, comprising the processes of neutral depletion, losses to chamber walls, and backward and forward flows. Conditions for high propellant utilization and high current efficiency are determined. The matching with the magnetic nozzle model yields the overall characterization of helicon thruster performances in terms of power, thrust and efficiency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Different prototypes have been tested [1][2][3][4]. Opportunities in this challenge remain largely on the thrust efficiency figure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A fluiddynamic performance model of a helicon thruster

Navarro¹,

Merino²,

Ahedo³

2012

48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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show abstract

“…In the previous studies by Ziemba et al, time of flight data was taken by placing two Langmuir probes downstream of the exhaust plasma flow. 6 This showed that the exhaust plasma was accelerating downstream -outside of the source region. A direct correlation was shown between the amount of power used to drive the helicon antenna and the exhaust velocity of the plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Downstream Flow Analysis of High-Power Helicon Double Gun Thruster with Application to Spacecraft Propulsion Systems

Murakami¹,

Roberson²,

Winglee³

et al. 2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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Human exploration and fast missions to the outer planets will require a plasma thruster that can operate in the 100 kW to several MW power regime. Such power regimes can only be attained by increasing the size of the thruster, or by using an array of plasma thrusters. Because there are a variety of scale lengths and thermal issues involved in any plasma system, it is unclear which of the two yields the greatest performance. The intent of the Double Gun thruster experiment is to examine whether an array of High-Power Helicon (HPH) thrusters can achieve a higher performance than a single HPH thruster. HPH thruster is an electrode-less space propulsion system that uses a Nagoya type III helical antenna to create plasma, which is then accelerated by the magnetic field generated by series of Helmholtz coils. The Double Gun thruster has two helicon antennae side-by-side. In this paper, the Double Gun thruster's performance is compared to the single gun firing scheme, focusing on the Langmuir probe data at various spatial locations downstream of the two thrusters. The time of flight measurements have shown that there is an interaction between the two antennae, which leads to an increase in exhaust speed from 14 km/s to 17 km/s, albeit at a loss in plasma density.

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“…2 A HAT consists of a cylindrical (helicon) source, where the plasma is generated and heated by helicon waves, and a magnetic nozzle, where the plasma beam is accelerated supersonically. 6 Compared with best known types of thrusters, such as ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters, the merits of this device would be, for instance, long lifetime, simplicity of design, throttlability, compactness [1][2][3][4][5] The helicon source is the stage that can produce high plasma density with relatively low magnetic fields. The effective production of plasma in a source is made by the low frequency whistler waves, which can be excited by different kinds of antenna with a moderate value of radio-frequency input power.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Plasma-wave Interaction in Helicon Antenna Thrusters

Tian¹,

Ahedo²,

Navarro³

2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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Plasma-wave interaction is a central physical process in plasma production and heating in helicon plasma thrusters. In this paper, a plasma-antenna radially linear model is used to characterize the main regimes of wave propagation into the plasma and to compute the energy absorption and the equivalent plasma impedance in terms of magnetic strength, plasma density, chamber geometry and antenna topology.

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High Power Helicon Thruster

Cited by 48 publications

References 9 publications

A fluiddynamic performance model of a helicon thruster

A fluiddynamic performance model of a helicon thruster

Downstream Flow Analysis of High-Power Helicon Double Gun Thruster with Application to Spacecraft Propulsion Systems

Investigation of Plasma-wave Interaction in Helicon Antenna Thrusters

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