“…The main characteristics of a cathode-less plasma thruster are: (i) a very simple architecture, which helps keeping at bay the cost of these systems; (ii) no electrodes in contact with the plasma neither for generation nor acceleration; (iii) possibility of operating the thruster with different propellants without a drastic redesign; (iv) absence of a neutralizer provided that the ejected plasma is currentfree and quasi-neutral. The main components of a cathodeless plasma thruster are: (i) a dielectric tube inside which the neutral gas propellant is ionized; (ii) a Radio Frequency (RF) antenna working in the MHz range that provides the power to produce and to heat up the plasma [26], (iii) permanent magnets that generate the magneto-static field required to enhance the plasma confinement [27,28] and to improve the thrust via the magnetic nozzle effect [29][30][31].…”
“…9. The following properties are assumed [30] • Ion temperature T i = 0.3 eV, electron temperature T e = 3 eV • Ions and electrons injection flux Γ = 5 × 10 20 m −2 s −1 • Ions speed V 0 = 1370 m/s…”
REGULUS is an Iodine-based electric propulsion system. It has been designed and manufactured at the Italian company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation SpA (T4i). REGULUS integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) and its subsystems, namely electronics, fluidic, and thermo-structural in a volume of 1.5 U. The mass envelope is 2.5 kg, including propellant. REGULUS targets CubeSat platforms larger than 6 U and CubeSat carriers. A thrust T = 0.60 mN and a specific impulse Isp = 600 s are achieved with an input power of P = 50 W; the nominal total impulse is Itot = 3000 Ns. REGULUS has been integrated on-board of the UniSat-7 satellite and its In-orbit Demonstration (IoD) is currently ongoing. The principal topics addressed in this work are: (i) design of REGULUS, (ii) comparison of the propulsive performance obtained operating the MEPT with different propellants, namely Xenon and Iodine, (iii) qualification and acceptance tests, (iv) plume analysis, (v) the IoD.
“…The main characteristics of a cathode-less plasma thruster are: (i) a very simple architecture, which helps keeping at bay the cost of these systems; (ii) no electrodes in contact with the plasma neither for generation nor acceleration; (iii) possibility of operating the thruster with different propellants without a drastic redesign; (iv) absence of a neutralizer provided that the ejected plasma is currentfree and quasi-neutral. The main components of a cathodeless plasma thruster are: (i) a dielectric tube inside which the neutral gas propellant is ionized; (ii) a Radio Frequency (RF) antenna working in the MHz range that provides the power to produce and to heat up the plasma [26], (iii) permanent magnets that generate the magneto-static field required to enhance the plasma confinement [27,28] and to improve the thrust via the magnetic nozzle effect [29][30][31].…”
“…9. The following properties are assumed [30] • Ion temperature T i = 0.3 eV, electron temperature T e = 3 eV • Ions and electrons injection flux Γ = 5 × 10 20 m −2 s −1 • Ions speed V 0 = 1370 m/s…”
REGULUS is an Iodine-based electric propulsion system. It has been designed and manufactured at the Italian company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation SpA (T4i). REGULUS integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) and its subsystems, namely electronics, fluidic, and thermo-structural in a volume of 1.5 U. The mass envelope is 2.5 kg, including propellant. REGULUS targets CubeSat platforms larger than 6 U and CubeSat carriers. A thrust T = 0.60 mN and a specific impulse Isp = 600 s are achieved with an input power of P = 50 W; the nominal total impulse is Itot = 3000 Ns. REGULUS has been integrated on-board of the UniSat-7 satellite and its In-orbit Demonstration (IoD) is currently ongoing. The principal topics addressed in this work are: (i) design of REGULUS, (ii) comparison of the propulsive performance obtained operating the MEPT with different propellants, namely Xenon and Iodine, (iii) qualification and acceptance tests, (iv) plume analysis, (v) the IoD.
“…Figure 1.Schematic of a MEPT that highlights the separation between production stage and acceleration stage (Magarotto et al. 2020 a ). Note that only the acceleration stage is simulated in this study.…”
A three-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation strategy has been implemented to simulate the acceleration stage of a magnetically enhanced plasma thruster (MEPT). The study has been performed with the open-source code Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software (SPIS). The tool has been copiously modified to simulate properly the dynamics of a magnetized plasma plume. A cross-validation of the methodology has been done with Starfish, a two-dimensional open-source PIC software. Two configurations have been compared: (i) in the absence of a magnetic field and (ii) in the presence of a magnetic field generated by a coil with maximum intensity of 300 G at the thruster outlet. The results show a reduction of the plume divergence angle, an increase of ion speed and an increase of the specific impulse in the presence of the magnetic nozzle. The simulations presented in this study are representative of the operative conditions of a 50 W MEPT. Nonetheless, the methodology adopted can be extended to handle the magnetized plasma plume of several other types of thrusters such as electron cyclotron resonance and applied field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters.
“…The y-component of the drift, instead, is zeroed at each cycle due to the linear polarization of the EM fields produced by the birdcage antenna. In the exhaust region, the applied magnetic field B 0 is diverging, therefore partial thrust will also be provided by an EM nozzle effect, this can be investigated by numerical methods such as [49][50][51], however this is out of scope within this paper.…”
Section: Theoretical Description Of the Birdcage Antennamentioning
Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft. To extend such missions lifetime, an efficient propulsion system is required. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP). It collects atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system would minimize the requirement of limited propellant availability and can also be applied to any planet with atmosphere, enabling new mission at low altitude ranges for longer times. Challenging is also the presence of reactive chemical species, such as atomic oxygen in Earth orbit. Such species cause erosion of (not only) propulsion system components, i.e. acceleration grids, electrodes, and discharge channels of conventional EP systems. IRS is developing within the DISCOVERER project, an intake and a thruster for an ABEP system. The paper describes the design and implementation of the RF helicon-based inductive plasma thruster (IPT). This
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
