Magnetoplasmadynamic two-stage micro-cathode arc thruster for CubeSats

Zolotukhin, Denis B.; Daniels, K. P.; Bandaru, S. R. P.; Keidar, Michael

doi:10.1088/1361-6595/ab4170

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…An additional source of ion acceleration comes from the Lorentz force F L ~ j θ × B r , which contributes to thrust at higher values of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the discharge region and discharge currents (and, correspondingly, electron currents in plasma). Previous simulations of the contribution of F L to thrust ( 11 ) showed that the j θ × B r acceleration region has a typical length of within 1 mm; thus, the contribution of Lorentz force to thrust can be comparable with the initial thrust ( 25 ) and strongly depends on the magnetic field strength and configuration defined by the position of the magnet with respect to the discharge area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration of electric micropropulsion multimodality

et al. 2022

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Electric propulsion has become popular nowadays owing to the trend of miniaturizing the size and mass of satellites. However, the main drawback of the most popular approach—Hall thrusters—is that their efficiency and thrust-to-power ratio (TPR) markedly deteriorate when its size and power level are reduced. Here, we demonstrate an alternative approach—a minute low-power (<50 W), lightweight (~100 g), two-stage propulsion system. The system is based on a micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster with magnetoplasmadynamic second stage (μCAT-MPD), which achieves the following parameters: a thrust of up to 1.7 mN at a TPR of 37 μN/W and an efficiency of ~50%. A μCAT-MPD system, in addition to “traditional” inverse, displays the anomalous direct (growing) “TPR versus specific impulse I sp ” trend at high I sp values and allows multimodality at high efficiency.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration of electric micropropulsion multimodality

et al. 2022

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“…Our previous results for the µCAT-MPD thruster with a pulsed magnetic field formed by the coil with an iron core [22] demonstrated that the thrust increase strongly depends on the coil current as well as the power depositing in the second stage. However, for the case of pulsed magnetic coil, the latter parameter cannot be easily varied and predicted due to the changeable degree of magnetization of plasma electrons during the pulse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, for the case of pulsed magnetic coil, the latter parameter cannot be easily varied and predicted due to the changeable degree of magnetization of plasma electrons during the pulse. Therefore, by setting a power in the second stage less than that in the first stage, as it was achieved in [22], the thrust grows quite moderately (from 3-9 µN up to 15-18 µN) with a moderate thrust to power ratio (around 4 µN W −1 ). A permanent magnet has an advantage by giving a stable configuration of magnetic field without consuming electrical energy and independently from the thruster firing regime.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the main and the most important drawback of these two thruster concepts is the need for the neutralization of charge of expelling ions by the additional lifetimelimited cathode neutralizer. Recently, we proposed a promising alternative approach-a second stage based on an MPD thruster [22]. In this two-staged µCAT-MPD thruster, preliminary quasi-neutral plasma, produced by the first stage (single µCAT), is then additionally accelerated by a Lorentz force, generated due to interaction of electron current which is flowing in plasma toward the accelerating electrode, with the nonuniform external magnetic field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Discharge characteristics of two-stage micro-cathode arc MPD thrusters with a permanent magnet and a pulsed magnetic field

Zolotukhin

Daniels

Keidar

2020

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Small, lightweight low-power micro-cathode arc thrusters (µCATs) with micronewton thrust are well suited to the altitude control of small satellites like CubeSats. For some applications (orbit raising, maneuvering) their thrust level needs to be improved. A possible approach for this could be the two-staged thruster—a micro-cathode thruster with a magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) stage and an external magnetic field. In this article, we discuss some discharge features that such a two-stage µCAT-MPD experiences in each configuration of the magnetic field—formed with either a permanent magnet, or a pulsed magnetic coil. We found that in both configurations of the magnetic field, the thrust can be enhanced significantly (up to factor of 10) after some threshold voltage is applied to the second stage. The pulsed magnetic coil ensures better controllability of the magnetic field; however, it causes an undesirable time delay between the plasma generation moments in both stages, which consequently results in a moderate thrust increase. The permanent magnet provides a stable thrust increase; however, it cannot be switched off, which seems to be impractical for its use in micro-satellites. In both magnetic field configurations, the emissive electromagnetic noise level was found to be low-frequency (within tens of kHz) and quite moderate in amplitude, and mechanical noise was found to be two orders of magnitude lower than the thrust generated in the normal working regime.

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“…The traditional typical μCAT was coaxial, which was constituted by a cylindrical inner cathode, an inner insulating sleeve (IIS) and a cylindrical outer anode [3,4], and is denoted as CA s -µCAT, where the foot mark 's' indicates a single insulating sleeve, in this research work. To improve the propulsion performance of a μCAT, some research works have already been conducted [5][6][7]. However, almost all of the current μCAT structures provided thrust by mainly using the directional ejected plasma jet formed near the cathode during operation, where the anode just acted as a collector of charged particles from the cathode.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Double‐ejection micro‐cathode arc thruster applied to micro‐satellite

et al. 2022

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An innovative double-ejection micro-cathode arc thruster (AC d -µCAT), which consists of a cylindrical inner anode, a cylindrical outer cathode and two insulating sleeves (an inner insulating sleeve and an outer insulating sleeve), was proposed. The differences in electrical characteristics, plasma parameters and propulsion performance between the newly proposed AC d -µCAT and a traditional μCAT were examined. Study results showed that compared to the traditional μCAT structure, by using the AC d -µCAT, the peak value of produced thrust was increased 9.3 times, while the amplitude of the ion current and the ion-to-arc ratio were increased 5.4 and 5.9 times (from 1.2% to 7.1%), respectively. In addition, data from Langmuir probe experiments indicated that peak values of the directional propagation speed and density of plasma plume were increased 3.1 times and 4.2 times, respectively. Moreover, plasma plume directional ejection performance was also significantly improved. This study result will provide support for the development of a new-generation μCAT.

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Magnetoplasmadynamic two-stage micro-cathode arc thruster for CubeSats

Cited by 17 publications

References 36 publications

Demonstration of electric micropropulsion multimodality

Demonstration of electric micropropulsion multimodality

Discharge characteristics of two-stage micro-cathode arc MPD thrusters with a permanent magnet and a pulsed magnetic field

Double‐ejection micro‐cathode arc thruster applied to micro‐satellite

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