Recent magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster developments in Argentina
- Paper number
IAC-08.C4.4.12
- Author
Prof. Raul Dean, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina
- Coauthor
Prof. Hector Brito, Instituto Universitario Aeronautico, Argentina
- Coauthor
Prof. Livio Maglione, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina
- Coauthor
Dr. Sergio Elaskar, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and CONICET, Argentina
- Coauthor
Mr. Rodolfo Duelli, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Río Cuarto, Argentina, is presently developing an Ablative Magnetoplasmadynamic (AMPD) thruster as a low cost-mass-power simple, safe and highly efficient propulsion option for nano/microsatellites orbit and/or attitude control. Different nanosatellite (m<10 kg) mission scenarios in LEO were previously investigated in order to establish most probable minimum thrust, maximum ΔV, thus total impulse requirements. It was found that thrusters in the 100 µN range, able to provide 1000 Ns total impulse with PTFE as the solid propellant, will likely be needed for most of the missions. The purpose of this work is to perform a review of the activities related to the thruster design. Using an equivalent (γ= 2) gasdynamic model for the magnetogasdynamic flow in thrusters with strong applied fields as the theoretical framework, parametric design activities were performed to obtain minimum mass configurations complying with operational requirements and, especially, satellite bus power constraints. As a result, a baseline thruster configuration was defined able to give a 5 kg satellite a ΔV = 200 m/s through a 100 µN thrust, using PTFE as the solid propellant, with 5W input power. We analyzed the design results in view of data available from similar thrusters. These comparisons allowed drawing the conclusion that, despite the comparative simplicity of the theoretical model, it not only correctly reflects the basic laws of the plasma acceleration process in MPD thrusters, but also yields quantitative results with satisfactory accuracy. It is worth mentioning this is a new application of the γ = 2 simplified model and, to the authors´ knowledge, the first application to AMPD microthrusters.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.C4.4.12.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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