Experimental Investigation of Influencing Factors for Reliable Startup and Steady Work of 20W Microwave Electromal Thruster under Realistic Space Conditions
- Paper number
IAC-15,C4,IP,29,x31487
- Author
Mr. Rohan M Ganapathy, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, India
- Year
2015
- Abstract
Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET) is one of the derivative of electrothermal propulsion devices. Its characteristics including electrodeless design, long lifetime, and slight plume contamination make it very attractive for future application as means of both promary and secondary propulsion. Making use of the thermal-vacuum experimental system, the factors which influence reliable startup and steady work of low power 20Watt coaxial resonant cavity MET such as propellant kinds including water, coupling probe length, mass flow rate, incident microwave power, position of inner conductor, and sealed material selection of microwave connector were studied. The dependence of MET performance such as thrust, specific impulse and efficiency on the parameters of propellant mass flow rate and incident microwave power were discussed and analyzed. The effects of plasma non-uniformities are also studied and the results are presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)