On magnetic reconnection as promising driver for future plasma propulsion systems

Abstract

This work presents a more detailed analysis of the process of magnetic reconnection as promising ion beam accelerator mechanism with possible applications in laboratory plasmas and, more importantly, in the plasma propulsion field. In a previous work, an introductory study on this subject was already carried out, yet under the adoption of relevant approximations, such as the limitation to 2.5D simulations and the especially use of Hydrogen plasma as a propellant, whose element is rarely considered in the real scenario. Also, the analysis mainly focussed on studying the physical content of the outcomes, by leaving out the analysis of more important engineering quantities, such as the mass flow and thrust effectively reached out of such systems. With this work, we intend to fill these gaps in order to provide further insights into the great potentiality of a future technology based on magnetic reconnection. Additionally, one of the possibly limiting features was the inevitable symmetric outflow produced by the reconnection process. Among all the possible solutions adoptable, we propose here a solution based on the particle behavior undertaken in entering the reconnection region according to the initial density profile. We demonstrate 1 arXiv:1807.11441v1 [physics.plasm-ph] 30 Jul 2018 that a noticeable net thrust value can be achieved by setting up a longitudinal asymmetric density profile with a relevant drop gradient.

Test particle acceleration in resistive torsional fan magnetic reconnection using laboratory plasma parameters

“…In addition to advancements in basic plasma science, laboratory investigations of torsional reconnection resulting in plasma jets may have significant implications for technology fields such as spacecraft propulsion (Chesny 2013;Cazzola et al 2016;Chesny et al 2017;Bathgate et al 2018;Cazzola, Curreli & Lapenta 2018;Ebrahimi 2020). This novel concept of exploiting magnetic reconnection for in-space propulsion faces competing architectures.…”

“…This novel concept of exploiting magnetic reconnection for in-space propulsion faces competing architectures. Inducing the 2-D model of Sweet-Parker reconnection (Cazzola et al 2018), although demonstrably more mature in terms of experimentation (e.g. Yamada et al 2014), faces the prospect of suppressing one side of a bidirectional outflow to produce thrust.…”