Preliminary characterization test of HET and RIT with Nitrogen and Oxygen

Cifali, G.; Misuri, Tommaso; Rossetti, P.; Andrenucci, Mariano; Valentian, D.; Feili, D.

doi:10.2514/6.2011-6073

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Nevertheless, the atmospheric gas is usually hard to ignite or discharge due to its low ionization rate. [6,7] Kozhevnikov et al [8] pointed out that radio frequency ion thruster (RIT) can be an appropriate selection used at certain altitudes with low thrust demand due to its high specific impulse and efficiency. For example, RIT-10 was used to send Artemis to the scheduled orbit for almost one year after the Ariane-5 rocket was broken down.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power transfer efficiency in an air-breathing radio frequency ion thruster

Huang 黄,

Li 李,

Gao 高

et al. 2024

Chinese Phys. B

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Due to a series of challenges such as low-orbit maintenance of satellites, the air-breathing electric propulsion has got widespread attention. Commonly, the radio frequency ion thruster is favored by low-orbit missions due to its high specific impulse and efficiency. In this paper, the power transfer efficiency of the radio frequency ion thruster with different gas composition is studied experimentally, which is obtained by measuring the radio frequency power and current of the antenna coil with and without discharge operation. The results show that increasing the turns of antenna coils can effectively improve the radio frequency power transfer efficiency, which is due to the improvement of Q factor. In pure N2 discharge, with the increase of radio frequency power, the radio frequency power transfer efficiency first rises rapidly and then exhibits a less steep increasing trend. The radio frequency power transfer efficiency increases with the increase of gas pressure at relatively high power, while declines rapidly at relatively low power. In N2/O2 discharge, increasing the N2 content at high power can improve the radio frequency power transfer efficiency, but the opposite was observed at low power. In order to give a better understanding of these trends, an analytic solution in limit cases is utilized, and a Langmuir probe was employed to measure the electron density. It is found that the evolution of radio frequency power transfer efficiency can be well explained by the variation of plasma resistance, which is related to the electron density and the effective electron collision frequency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power transfer efficiency in an air-breathing radio frequency ion thruster

Huang 黄,

Li 李,

Gao 高

et al. 2024

Chinese Phys. B

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“…Various mechanisms of EP, including Hall effect thrusters, gridded ion thrusters, and pulsed plasma thrusters, are considered as candidates for the ABEP thruster [42]. Among the EP mechanisms, the radio-frequency (RF) ion thruster might be a practical option, as the ground test campaign has verified its steady operation using atmospheric propellants [43].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma plume simulation of an atomic oxygen-fed ion thruster in very-low-earth-orbit

Moon,

Choe,

Jun

2023

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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The plasma plume flow of an atomic oxygen-fed (AO-fed) ion thruster is numerically investigated as a simplification of the atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP). A predictive analysis is conducted focusing on the ion backflow phenomenon and plume-background interaction in very-low-earth-orbit (VLEO). The computational framework employs two sequentially integrated numerical methods: a zero-dimensional (0-D) analytical model for the radio-frequency ion thruster and a hybrid method of the particle-in-cell (PIC) and direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) techniques. The 0-D analytic model is employed for the prediction of exhaust conditions, while the hybrid PIC-DSMC method adopts these predictions to conduct the plasma plume simulations. A generalized collision cross-section model is introduced to enable consistent kinetic simulations for both AO and xenon propellants in VLEO atmosphere. The plasma plume simulations are conducted in an axisymmetric domain, including a cylindrical satellite body to consider wake flow. The exhaust ions exhibit diffusive transport transverse to the ion beam direction, implying the ion backflow. The backflowing ion current density can be increased in AO-fed thrusters, which require a high propellant flow rate to achieve a practical thrust. The AO-fed ion thruster shows a more active interaction between its plasma plume and the VLEO atmosphere compared to conventional xenon-based thrusters. The intensified plume-background interaction modifies the backflowing ion current density and the kinetic energy of individual ions, factors related to the spacecraft’s surface contamination.

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“…Understandably, a major challenge in air-breathing EP development is related to on-ground verification and reproduction of VLEO environment, characterized by atmospheric flow velocities in the order of 7.8 km s −1 , number densities in the 1 × 10 15 m −3 to 1 × 10 17 m −3 range, and a highly variable composition (being N 2 and O the major constituents) depending on solar and geomagnetic activities, orbital parameters, daytime and period of the year. Even if several EP devices were successfully verified with air propellant fed via laboratory gas supplies (including Hall thrusters [10][11][12], RF ion engines [6,10], and RF helicon inductive plasma thrusters [13,14]), experimental evidence of successful air-breathing operation is limited. In the study mentioned in [5], the VLEO environment was in some measure recreated by means of a laser beam detonation source, which allowed to produce hyper-thermal N 2 and O 2 flows which were collected by an intake and accelerated by a grid system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric propellant fed Hall thruster discharges: 0D-hybrid model and experimental results

Ferrato¹,

Giannetti²,

Califano³

et al. 2022

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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As part of on-going efforts in advancing air-breathing electric propulsion, the HT5k Hall thruster was characterized in six operating conditions, ranging from 5 mg/s to 7 mg/s of 0.56N2 + 0.44O2 mass flow rate and 225 V to 300 V of discharge voltage. The cathode was operated with N2 at mass flow rates between 0.5 mg/s and 0.7 mg/s. This paper presents a 0D-hybrid model for atmospheric propellant fed Hall thruster discharges. Verified performance ranged between 30 mN to 120 mN in thrust, 1.2 kW to 5.2 kW in discharge power, and 8% to 18% in anodic efficiency. Calibrated model comparison against experimental data resulted in a mean absolute error of 3.7% in thrust and 7.6% in discharge power.

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Preliminary characterization test of HET and RIT with Nitrogen and Oxygen

Cited by 13 publications

References 1 publication

Power transfer efficiency in an air-breathing radio frequency ion thruster

Power transfer efficiency in an air-breathing radio frequency ion thruster

Plasma plume simulation of an atomic oxygen-fed ion thruster in very-low-earth-orbit

Atmospheric propellant fed Hall thruster discharges: 0D-hybrid model and experimental results

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