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Pulsed Plasma Thruster Using Powdered Propellant
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Saito, Takefumi Koizumi, Hiroyuki Kuninaka, Hitoshi |
| Copyright Year | 2007 |
| Abstract | Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs) are now getting growing attention in practical use on microspacecraft because of their simple structure, robustness, and ability to operate in limited power. However, they have some weaknesses such as poor thrust efficiency and inadequacy in long-life-time operation. A powdered propellant PPT was suggested to overcome these weaknesses. We made an experimental PPT with which we can experiment using both solid propellant and powdered propellant. Some experimental investigation on performance of the powdered propellant PPT compared with the traditional ablative PPT were conducted First, discharge current was measured. Then use of powdered propellant proved to have an advantage over solid propellant in thrust-to-power ratio. Second, we measured pressure rise in the vacuum chamber after each discharge, investigated relationship between mass loss and pressure rise, and compared them using solid propellant and powdered propellant. As a result, little difference was found in the amount of gas evaporation when using both solid propellant and powdered propellant. But total mass loss is much larger when powdered propellant was used. It can be considered that particulate emission reduces the specific impulse when powdered propellant was used. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://erps.spacegrant.org/uploads/images/images/iepc_articledownload_1988-2007/2007index/IEPC-2007-116.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
