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The Electrodeless Plasma Thruster is a spacecraft propulsion engine. It was created by Mr. Gregory Emsellem based on technology developed by French Atomic Energy Commission scientist Dr. Terenzio Consoli, for high speed plasma beam production. Almost a year after World War II ended, Congress established the United States Atomic Energy Commission to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. ...
The Electrodeless Plasma Thruster is currently being developed and adapted to various spacecraft propulsion needs by The Elwing Company.
Operating Principle
- Propellant is injected at the upstream side of the thruster body. In case the propellant used is not gaseous (e.g. alkali metals) at the local temperature it is where this propellant must be vaporized.
- Gaseous propellant is ionized by one of the following methods. Gaseous propellant can be ionized by bombarding it with electron emitted by a hot cathode or an electron gun. Another possible method can be to use a steady state discharge between two electrodes. Ionization can also be performed by applying an alternating electric field either via a Capacitively coupled plasma capacitive discharge or an inductive discharge or even a Helicon discharge. Propellant can also be ionized by electromagnetics waves of various frequency from Radio frequency up to Gamma rays, which is especially useful for solid propellant in which case the propellant can be simultaneously vaporized and ionized by a laser impulse. As the ionization stage is subjected to a steady magnetic field, the ionization process can leverage this situation by using one of the numerous resonances existing in magnetized plasma, such as ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) , electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) or lower hybrid oscillation, to produce a high density cold plasma.
- The cold and dense plasma, produced by the ionization stage, then drifts toward the acceleration stage by diffusion across a region of higher magnetic field intensity.
- In the acceleration stage the propellant plasma is accelerated by magnetized ponderomotive force in an area where both non-uniform static magnetic field and non-uniform high-frequency electromagnetic fields are applied simultaneously.
Excitation of plasma by helicon waves induced through ion cyclotron radio frequency heating. ...
Rough plot of Earths atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves. ...
This article is about electromagnetic radiation. ...
A plasma may be efficiently produced by superimposing a static magnetic field and a high frequency electromagnetic field at the electron cyclotron resonance frequency. ...
A lower hybrid oscillation is a longitudinal oscillation of ions and electrons in a magnetized plasma. ...
A ponderomotive force is a nonlinear force that a charged particle experiences in a rapidly oscillating, inhomogeneous electric or electromagnetic field. ...
Advantages This thruster technology can deliver large thrust density as the acceleration process is not limited by plasma density through Hall Parameter or grid electrical screening. Further as the ponderomotive force accelerate all plasma species in the same direction, this thruster technology do not need any neutralizer. The fact that electrodeless plasma thruster is inherently multi-staged allow to optimize separetly both stages or to throttle the thruster at constant power beteween higher specific impulse and higher thrust. Last the ponderomotive force field is created by non-uniform high frequency field and static magnetic field thus it implies no grids or contact between the plasma and any electrodes hence avoiding most thruster erosion and spacecraft contamination issues. The specific impulse (commonly abbreviated Isp) of a propulsion system is the impulse (change in momentum) per unit of propellant. ...
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newtons Second and Third Law. ...
Applications Propulsion systems based on electrodeless plasma thrusters seems ideally suited for orbit raising for large geostationnary satellite, and would also be able to perform station keeping, hence enabling important propellant mass saving. The ability of this technology to provide large thrust density could allow faster missions to outer planets.
Other Researches
The use of ponderomotive force to accelerate a plasma has recently been investigated from a theoretical point of view by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory scientists I. Y. Dodin, Y. Raitses and N. J. Fisch. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. ...
Some theoretical researches have also been reported around the debated issue of the existence of a double layer in such thruster, even if such a double layer structure would be current-free, as both ions and electrons travels in the same directions at the same average terminal speed, and the existence of current free double layer is still debated among plasma physicists. Saturnian aurora whose reddish colour is characteristic of ionized hydrogen plasma. ...
See also A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites, or in short, to provide delta-v. ...
2 kW Laboratory Hall Thruster in operation at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory A Hall effect thruster is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field in a plasma discharge with a radial magnetic field. ...
VASIMR test bed Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rockets or VASIMRs as the name is commonly abbreviated is a hypothetical form of spacecraft propulsion that uses radio waves and magnetic fields to accelerate a propellant. ...
Magneto-Plasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters are a form of electric Propulsion which use the Lorentz force (a force exerted on charged particles by magnetic and electrical fields in combination) to generate thrust. ...
Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) is an advanced electrostatic propulsion concept, a form of ion thruster, that uses liquid metal (usually either caesium or indium) as a propellant. ...
The Helicon Double Layer Thruster is a prototype spacecraft propulsion engine. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Pulsed inductive thrusters or PITs as they are commonly abbreviated are a form of spacecraft propulsion that uses perpendicular electric and magnetic fields to accelerate a propellant. ...
External links - AIAA paper on this technology
- List of articles, presentations and patents by the Elwing Company on this technology
- Princeton Plasma Physics lab publications
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